


Shared Night

by DaTenshi_Yuki



Category: Shugo Chara!
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:01:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23692801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaTenshi_Yuki/pseuds/DaTenshi_Yuki
Summary: Hinamori Amu is just a normal girl and a single mother. She just wants to finish graduate school, get a job and raise her daughter. She just wants a peaceful life, is that too much to ask? Apparently so. AMUTO! AU
Relationships: Hinamori Amu/Tsukiyomi Ikuto
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	1. Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. This story however, is copyright to DaTenshi Yuki. Please do not plagiarize or use for other works without permission. Thank you and enjoy!!!

_The base of the music was thumping underneath her as she sat at the bar while the rest of her friends were dancing in the middle of the room, having the time of their lives._

_It was the last week of school before everyone was off to get ready for their college careers during the summer. After next week, she won’t be seeing her friends until they’ve settled into their colleges and schedules._

_After next week, she won’t be seeing him for a while._

_Golden eyes scanned the entire rooming looking for the one person her heart couldn’t let go of._

_His midnight blue locks were detectable even in the dark. They shined brighter in the DJ lights across the other side of the room. The more she observed him, the more her heart ached that he doesn’t see her the way she sees him._

_Although he was her best friend’s brother, he had never even looked at her. Despite his outward playboy attitude at school, he is actually a gentle and considerate person; always putting everybody else first and he, last._

_If he weren’t that type of person, then he wouldn’t be able to play the violin like the way he can. They way those beautiful melody danced across his bow and fingers as he played the string instrument. It was magical and makes her heart soar with happiness._

_Golden eyes came back to reality as her friend pulled her off her chair and to the dance floor. As she looked over to the blue-haired boy one last time, she finally decided that it was for the best to forget about this feeling._

_Everybody was having fun. She should have fun too. Even if she has these unrequited feelings for him, she’ll try to forget them and move on. Life is too short to stay in one place._

_What she wasn’t prepared for was the event after that._

_She wasn’t prepared for the situation that got them in to the same hotel room._

_She wasn’t prepared for his eyes looking at her lustfully and his lips kissing her entire body, letting her entire being melt into his touches._

_She wasn’t prepared for how tender he was treating her even in his intoxicated state._

_But when he had asked for her permission to go further, this time, she was prepared for this night to just be a night she’ll never forget. It will just be a memory of her first love and nothing more. And she was fine letting it._

_Even through all that, she wasn’t prepared for the events after that night either._

The alarm clock rang with a blaring noise that jarred her quickly from her sleep. As she slowly opened her eyes, her golden orbs were suddenly zoned in one another set of golden eyes and midnight blue hair.

“Good Morning, Mama!”


	2. Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. This story however, is copyright to DaTenshi Yuki. Please do not plagiarize or use for other works without permission. Thank you and enjoy!!!

“Good Morning, Mama.” The blue haired girl smiled as she leaned forward to give the pinkette a hug. Amu sat up on her elbows and brought the child closer to her as she gently greeted her, “Good Morning Yukito, I see you’re up early as usual.”

Yukito giggled as Amu kissed the top of her forehead. After that, they both got up off the bed and do their daily morning routines before heading off to Amu’s college for her first day of graduate school.

While Yukito went to get her outfit of the day from the drawer, Amu quickly fixed up a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. While the eggs sizzled, Amu glanced over at Yukito just in case she needed help wearing her clothes.

It’s been four years since Yukito was born and everyday her heart fluttered with joy at the girl who was her daughter by blood. This tiny being was the one thing that kept her together to help her through all the hardship as a single mother.

Of course, she also had help from other people who came in to her life after Yukito was born. She would forever be grateful to them as they made her life in motherhood manageable. Still, that wasn’t to say it was still easy.

Amu was brought out of her stupor when she felt Yukito tugging her apron, “Mama, the eggs are burning.” Sure enough, the pan was sizzling from overcooking and the pinkette had to whip up another batch quickly from scratch before they went out the door and to the campus.

As Amu parked her car, her phone alerted her of a notification.

Tadase: _Amu-chan, I’m on campus. Are you here yet?_

Amu quickly text back her intended location before her way to their first class. Getting out of the car and carrying Yukito with her bag, she made her way out of the parking lot, but not before noticing a large crowd of people huddling in the far side of the lot, squealing as if there was a celebrity coming through.

“Mama, why are they crying?” Yukito asked as she pointed to the large group of girls.

She inwardly giggled at her daughter’s choice of words, “Not sure, but we don’t have time to find out,” she said as she adjusted Yukito on her arms, “Let’s bring you to Tsukasa-oji quickly so that Mama can go to class, okay?”

With that, they made their way out of the parking lot

* * *

Damn it.

He wanted to be as discrete as possible when he came in to the school and get to class as quickly as he could to avoid this exact situation.

Now that his fans noticed him, there’s no way he can do that now.

“What do you expect Ikuto?” the brunette man on his right mused as he chuckled, “Told you to park somewhere else.”

“Shut up, Kukai” Ikuto sighed. He did not want to deal with the mistake first thing in the morning already.

Kukai heard him sighing exasperatedly and chuckled, “Maybe ask your uncle for a private parking area starting tomorrow. Tsukasa can definitely hook you up with that, right?”

Ikuto nodded as he unbuckled his seatbelt and getting ready to go out, “Yeah”

* * *

“Good Morning Yukito!” The light brown haired man greeted excitedly as he gave Yukito a tight hug. Yukito squealed under the attention as she was receiving.

Amu laughed at the display of affection her benefactor was giving to her daughter. Tsukasa Amakawa and his wife Marie have been there for her ever since Yukito was born. If it wasn’t for Marie’s kindness and Tsukasa’s guidance, she wouldn’t have known what to do.

“Dad! I didn’t get to say ‘good morning’ to Yukito. Put her down!”

The man passed off the bluenette to his willing son as Yukito happily greeted, “Keiichi-nii-nii!”

The boy Keiichi blushed as Yukito hugged the brown hair boy with loving affection. Amu giggled at the two children interacting with one another. Although Keiichi was older than Yukito by three years, he was much shyer than the blunette. He is, however, a little more open with Yukito than with children he encounters.

The door to the office opened and a blonde hair man walked in, “Good Morning, Amu-chan”

The pinkette returned the greeting, “Good Morning Tadase-kun.”

“Tsukasa-san, good morning,” he greeted, who smiled in return, before the blonde kneeled down to greet Yukito and Kei as they ran toward him.

Tsukasa glanced at his watch and realized the time, “You two better go now,” he said to Amu and Tadase, “Your first classes are in fifteen min.”

“Bye Mama. Bye-bye Tadase-onii chan!” Yukito waved as the pinkette head out of the office

“Be a good girl, Yukito,” Amu said before turning to Tsukasa, “Thank you for taking care of her, Tsukasa-san.”

“No problem, Amu-chan. Do your best.” After Amu and Tadase went out the door, Tsukasa gasped as he realized he forgot to let Tadase know that his cousin recently came back from Paris and that he’s studying on this very campus.

Oh wells, they’ll see him at some point so introduction is inevitable.

* * *

“How was your summer break, Amu-chan?” Tadase asked as both of them walked to their classes.

“My summer internship was intensive,” she responded, “but I’m glad they were being flexible with my schedule so that I’d be able to spend time with Yukito.”

Tadase nodded in understanding, “I’m glad to hear. Did they offer you a job then?”

“They offered part-time but I decided to accept their summer internship for the next two years before going for full-time after graduate school,” the pinkette explained, “If I had accepted it, I wouldn’t have time to take care of Yukito.”

Tadase frowned, “But Tsukasa-san wouldn’t have mind taking care of Yukito for you.”

“I can’t impose that responsibility on him, Tadase.” Amu firmly said, “They’ve already help me out a lot.” She smiled, “Besides, if I can quickly finish school, I can graduate early and start my career early.

Seeing the determination in the pinkette eyes, Tadase decided to drop the subject and let it be. “Okay, let’s not talk about this and talk about something else.” He stopped in front of Amu, who looked up at the blonde.

Tadase looked at her earnestly and Amu knew what he was about to ask, “Amu-chan,” he started, “Have you come to an answer to my confession?”

The pinkette looked at the blonde sincerely and smiled as earnestly as she could but the sadness in her eyes gave away her answer, “I’m sorry, Tadase-kun. I’m just not ready to think about a romantic relationship yet. ”

The blonde hair man eyes widened, not at the rejection but at the answer. Tadase grinned as the pinkette continued, “I am flattered that you do think of me that way but I think it’s a waste that your feelings are on me. Besides, I don’t think you should go out with someone who already has a daughter. I’m sure you could find a better girl out there than me.”

Suddenly, Amu felt herself pulled toward Tadase as he whispered to her, “There are no other girls out there better than you.”

Amu’s eyes widened at the close proximity between them and she blushed at how close their noses were touching.

“Tadase-kun”

“I can see only you, Amu-chan.”

Suddenly, the pinkette heard gasps and whispers. When she looked around and realized they were being stared at. Her face went as pink as her hair and she pushed Tadase away, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” she whispered heatedly.

Throughout the two years she’d known him, Amu has learned that although Tadase was prince-like on the outside, he sometimes has a devious side to him that often frustrates the pinkette.

Tadase laughed as he turned around to walk to their class. Amu followed suit, not sure what to make of his reaction to her reply.

Before they opened the door to their first class did Tadase finally said, “Amu-chan, your reply wasn’t a yes or a no.”

The statement caught the pinkette off guard but she didn’t say anything as Tadase continued, “In that case, I’m not going to give up then. I’ll wait until you’re ready and I’ll confess again.”

Amu was about to say something when Tadase opened the door and immediately, the sounds of squealing girls were heard. They both walked in to the lecture hall to see what the commotion was about. They couldn’t make out whom everyone was surrounding and taking pictures of so they decided to walk down the lecture hall to the front row seats.

“Yo! Tadase!” a voice called. Tadase turned around and smiled when he saw a friend he hasn’t seen in a long time, “Souma-kun!” And when his eyes travelled to the left of the brunette the blonde gasped, “Ikuto nii-san!”

Amu gasped as her eyes widened at the name she haven’t heard in a long time.


	3. Reluctance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. This story however, is copyright to DaTenshi Yuki. Please do not plagiarize or use for other works without permission. Thank you and enjoy!!!

“Souma-kun! Ikuto nii-san!” Tadase was about to walk to the two male who greeted him when Amu turned around, careful not to look in that particular direction where Tadase was about to go toward, and said to him, “I’m going to get us seats first, Tadase-kun.”

“Amu-chan, wait,” the blonde said, “I want to introduce you to my cousin and friend.”

“Maybe after class,” she suggested, “Besides, a lot of girls are surrounding them. I doubt you want them eavesdropping on your conversations.”

Tadase looked back up to see that the brunette was smiling and waving at the blonde to come up to sit next to them and the bluenette next to him nodded to the blonde. But Amu’s statement did ring true so he pointed his phone out to them and texted them that they can catch up later when there’s not much spectators.

As Amu and Tadase sat in the front of the seat, Amu turned to ask the blonde hair man, “Souma is your cousin?”

Tadase shook his head, “Souma Kukai is my friend from middle school. Tsukiyomi Ikuto is my cousin but technically he’s a close family friend. He went to Europe because his little sister was studying music there and he wanted to be close to his family.”

Amu kept quiet after that when the professor came in and told the class to settle down so that he could go over the syllabus for the term.

* * *

“Okay, we’ll end here for today,” the professor announced as he looked at the time, “Our first midterm will be in a month and a half so plan your time wisely.” With that he dismissed the class.

Tadase turned to the pinkette, “We’re going to Tsukasa-san’s office right now Amu-chan, are you available now?”

“Yeah, and it’s on the opposite side of his office so you should just join them.”

“I can send you to class first and then head there myself.”

The pinkette shook her head, “It’s fine, Tadase-kun. Don’t worry about me. Besides, I want to use the restroom first.”

“Okay then, maybe after you-,“but before Tadase could say anything else, Amu quickly got up and left the hall as quick as she could before telling Tadase, “I’ll see you later.”

Instead of walking up the stairs and out of the lecture hall, Amu opted for the closest exit. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she processed the thought that the very person she didn’t think she would ever see again in her life, is actually closer to her than she thought.

She realized, to her horror, what Tadase had said that they’re on their way to Tsukasa’s office right now!

Yukito!

* * *

Tsukasa chuckled as the three men looked disheveled due to running away from Ikuto’s fangirls.

“It’s going to be a tough two years for you, Ikuto-kun.” Tsukasa mused as the three took their seats to catch their breath.

“Hello to you too, Tsukasa-san,” the blue hair man greeted his uncle curtly as he quickly tried to regain his breathing.

“Seriously Ikuto, where are your cat-like skills to hide when you need them? And didn’t you use to revel in female attention during your high school years?” Kukai commented.

“That was back then. There’s a thing call growing up, you know,” Ikuto replied with a sigh. And maybe if you don’t follow me, I can maneuver around campus quietly. It’s because of your loud ass voice that we’re being seen.”

Tadase regained his breath and went to the corner of the room to get some water but then realized something, “Where’s Kei-chan and Yukito-chan?”

“We’re back!”

The four male looked toward the open door to see Keiichi and Yukito holding them out for a chestnut hair woman to enter with her hands full of bags.

Tsukasa walked up to his wife and assisted her with the take-out food, “Thanks Marie.”

“There were a lot of girls outside the door. What’s going on?”

Tadase and Kukai both snickered behind their hands while Ikuto glared at them.

“Ara! it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you Ikuto-chan!” Marie said as she went to hug the boy, “How are you?”

Ikuto blushed at the childish way his aunt was calling him and glared at Kukai and Tadase even more as they were trying really hard not to laugh at the blue hair male, “I’m doing well Marie-san. And stop calling me ‘chan’. I’m not a kid anymore.”

Marie giggled “Well, this oba-san will always think you’re a kid. Just like Tadase-chan too!” she said as she looked in the blonde’s direction, who had a tinge of pink in his cheeks as well after being called.

Then he looked down to see that Keiichi was hiding behind his mother, who was looking up at the bluenette shyly.

Ikuto bent down to Keiichi’s height, “Hey squirt! Do you remember me?”

Marie encouraged her son to greet the blue hair male and he did so in a small voice that, had Ikuto not have sharp hearing ears, he wouldn’t have been able to hear it, “Ikuto-nii-chan”

The blue hair man gently smiled as he pats the boy’s head, “That’s it!”

He then noticed the other child that was talking to Kukai and looked at Tsukasa while motioning to Yukito, “Is she your second kid?”

Tsukasa shook his head as he handed a plate of food to his wife, “Oh no, she’s a friend of ours. Her mother goes to school on this campus too. She’s a year younger than you, I believe.”

At this, Tadase chimed into the conversation “She’s the girl I was sitting next to today in class; the one with pink hair. Her name is Hinamori Amu.”

For some reason, Ikuto felt compelled to get closer to the blue hair child. There was just something about her that looked so familiar yet so foreign at the same time. Yukito noticed his presence just as Ikuto knelt down and extended his hand to her as he said, “Hi Yukito-chan, I’m Ikuto. Nice to meet you.”

Yukito stared at Ikuto wide-eye and curious. As the seconds ticked by with the girl just blatantly looking at the man, Ikuto began to feel a little nervous for some reason. It felt as if those golden orbs were staring deep into his soul. Finally, Yukito extended her tiny hand out and shook Ikuto’s hand as she smiled.

“Ikuto nii-chan!”

The moment their hands touched, Ikuto felt a swelling sensation in his chest that left him confused and dumbfounded. There was an instinctual need to protect but he couldn’t think of a single reason why he felt that way.

* * *

After class was over, Amu quickly took out her phone to text Tsukasa.

_Are you still in the office? I’ll come by to pick Yukito up to go home._

While waiting, Amu quickly packed her bag and left the small classroom when her phone rang. It was Tsukasa.

_“Amu-chan, why don’t you come up to the office and stay for dinner? We’re going out to eat later as a get together. I want you to meet some people here.”_

“Actually Tsukasa-san, I’m not feeling too well. I think I’m going to go home for today. Maybe we could meet up some other time.”

The phone was making noises as if it was being passed around before Amu heard Yukito’s voice, _“Mama, are you okay?”_

Amu instantly smiled as she gently said, “Mama’s okay, Yukito. She just needs to rest a little bit and she’ll be just fine. I’ll come pick you up now, alright?”

Tsukasa’s voice echoed through the phone, _“Let Yukito stay with us for now. Go home and get some rest first. We’ll text you the time and location of the restaurant if you’re up for it. If not, we’ll drop Yukito off right after dinner.”_

“Are you sure? I really don’t want to trouble you with that.”

_“Nonsense! Yukito seems to be quite happy right now.”_

_“Mama! I made new friends with Cookie nii-chan and Ikuto nii-chan!”_

_“Yukito! It’s Kukai nii-chan, not Cookie!”_ Kukai whined at how his name got twisted to that point. The others were laughing at him.

Amu felt her heart dropped as if a hammer came down on it. She knew that they were going to meet but hearing it made her realized that it really happened. She wondered if anyone questioned the similarities between them.

_“Mama?”_

“That’s great Yukito. You’re being polite and behaving right?”

_“Hm! Yeah, Cookie- nii-chan said he teach me and Kei nii nii how to play soccer when we go over to his house next time. Can I go?”_

“Ask me again next time okay? Can you pass the phone back to Tsukasa-oji chan?”

“ _Amu-chan”_

“Thank you for the trouble. I feel bad imposing this onto you.”

_“It’s totally fine. Yukito isn’t the troublemaking type anyway so don’t worry about it. Just go home and get some rest._

“Thank you, Tsukasa-san.”

Amu quietly walked to the parking lot as she let her mind processed the current situation. She knew she was being a coward, refusing to meet the inevitable. At some point, she would have to see him.

The pinkette got inside her car and let out a big sigh as she sunk down onto her seat. There was no question that from the moment she chose to keep Yukito, she was going to keep the father a secret for the rest of her life. If Yukito had ever ask her about it, she was going to say that she had made a big mistake and that she didn’t know who it was because they were both drunk out of their minds. It was somewhat of a white lie and she knew deep down in her heart it was selfish of her to keep Yukito in the dark because of her cowardice.

But now that Yukito and him have both met each other, could she hide this secret forever? At the same time, despite it all, somewhere deep in her heart, she was also glad that they’ve met.

Amu laid her head on the steering wheel as she thought about how to deal with the delicate situation. 

* * *

Tsukasa heard his phone vibrated as his phone blared with an incoming message. Eyes wide when he saw what was texted to him but didn’t question it.

_I’ll rest up a bit and meet you at the restaurant. Let me know the location._


	4. Unexpected Rendezvous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of the Shugo characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Hope you guys enjoy!

After Yukito and Amu both got out of the bath and finishing their nightly routine, the bluenette ran to the bed and pulled the comforter up on her and her mother.

“Mama?”

“What is it, Yukito?”

“I love you,” she whispered sweetly as she got up to place a kiss on the pinkette’s cheeks.

Smiling at the bluenette, Amu patted her head and tucked Yukito in bed, “I love you too, Yukito. Sweet dreams.”

As the night ticked away, the only sound Amu could was the sound of Yukito’s steady breathing. Her mind slowly came to process on the evening that transpired.

_“Amu-chan, how are you?” Marie asked as she got up. The pinkette smiled as she was greeted with a hug by the chestnut hair woman._

_“I’ve been good Marie-san, what about you?”_

_“Work has kept me busy, but it’s manageable.” They then heard Yukito getting out of her seat and tugging her mother by the hem of her shirt, “Mama, Mama! Let me show you my new friends. She pointed to the blue hair man and the brunette man sitting across the table next to Tadase._

_“That’s Cookie-nii-chan and Ikuto nii-chan, Mama! Cookie-nii-chan taught me how to kick a soccer ball today.”_

_Kukai had no more strength left trying to correct the bluenette. Both Tadase and Ikuto had tried to hold their laughter in as best as they could but snorted in laughter instead._

_Regardless, Kukai got up and offered his hand to greet her, “Please to meet you. I’m Souma Kukai.” And he then whispered, “I beg you, please teach Yukito to say my name correctly.”_

_Amu sweat-dropped and nodded as she chuckled. “Sorry, I'll help her with it; I’m Hinamori Amu.”_

_The brunette grinned, “So Hinamori! I heard from Tadase that you play sports. Let have a go for a few rounds of soccer next time. What do you say?”_

_Amu laughed, “Anytime.”_

_She then turned her attention to the blue hair man. Ikuto quietly got up and shook the pinkette’s hand, “I’m Tsukiyomi Ikuto.” He then smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”_

From their interactions for the rest of the night it seemed that Ikuto didn’t really remember her nor _that_ night, which was good. She wasn’t sure how drunk Ikuto was to the point of whether he had forgotten her or not. Her worries were futile after that dinner. If all goes well, she’ll just remain as an observer. Yukito seemed attached to him as well and while it’s risky, she’s happy that they’re getting along fine. Regardless, she’ll try to keep her distance from Ikuto as much as possible.

Still, she felt like she was forgetting something important. At this point though, her mind was starting to grow heavy with sleep and the pinkette decided that it was best to just leave that thought aside for now.

* * *

_He could feel the heat of her skin against his parted lips as he licked across her body. She felt so small and fragile under his touch that he felt like he could easily hurt her if he put too much strength in holding her._

_The moon shining through the big windows uncovered her body, making her looking more delicate and beautiful in his eyes. He could see her face covered in darkness but he didn’t mind. He skimmed his lips at her smooth skin, trailing his tongue over her stomach to the valley between her breasts._

_He brought his right hand up, which had been twitching near her side and couldn’t resist the temptations of wanting to feel and touch those soft delicate mounds._

_He kneaded the flesh on the palms of his hand, which elicited a moan from the female he couldn’t see._

_He kept putting pressure on her right breast while licking her left and sucking on the pink nipple._

_“Ikuto,” the girl whimpered and writhed in the pleasure he was giving._

_The said man started kissing her and trailed those kisses down her neck._

_“Can I?"_

Ikuto woke up with eyes widen open as he regained his breathing. The blue hair man looked around his surrounding and saw that he was on top of a tree.

_Oh yeah, I was taking a nap here._

Looking at his watch, he saw that he had another couple hours to kill before his next class. Seeing that the campus is somewhat empty, he decided to use the main road to walk out of campus to get something to eat before that.

It’s been a while since he had that dream. Back then it was flashes of moments, as if it was just a photograph. But ever since a couple weeks ago, those dreams started to become more vivid and real. And it was the same every time: him hovering over a body with a face covered in the shadows; him leaving kisses over her body and touching her. And it never got past that point. Did it have to do with whoever he was with the night of his high school prom?

No way. There were no signs of another person in the hotel room he was in. But then again, he was drunk out of his mind. He was so stupid to let himself getting talked into drinking alcohol that night and got drunk because of it too.

But if there was actually someone he slept with, then wouldn’t there have been talks about it during graduation? The fact that none of the girls came up to him had to mean that he was alone in that hotel room that night, right?

But how does that explain the dreams he had?

Ikuto looked up at the sky and let out a big sigh. Maybe that dream is just chalking up to him being horny. How pathetic! Having a wet dream in the middle of the day on campus too!

As he turned to a corner to go to a French café shop that he started to frequent, he eyes caught sight of pink and blue by the window.

Hinamori Amu.

The first time he met her, his first impression was that she was cute. He didn’t think much of her other than that she’s a friend of his relatives and that Tadase has a gigantic crush on her.

And it seems that she isn’t fazed by his presence like most girls he encountered. Though Ikuto have a distinct feeling that she was avoiding him and he wasn’t sure why he felt like that. The thought sounded narcissistic in his head. They’ve only met once. It’s not like they’re friends. But Kukai and her are in a couple classes together and he seems to get along with her but the classes between Ikuto and her, she was always sitting alone. The only time they sit together is the one class where the four of them have together. Even then, they never talked much.

He was brought back from his thoughts when he felt the intense feeling of his empty stomach growling. Geh! Forget it. It’s not a big deal. Maybe it’s just all in his head. Maybe the pinkette just doesn’t notice that he’s in the same class as her; she’s always sitting in the front and comes to class early whereas he sits in the back and comes to class right when the professor comes in so that the girls won’t bother him during those ten minute periods.

He opened the door to the café and was greeted by a blonde waitress.

“Ikuto-kun! It’s been a while! How are you?”

“Lulu? When did you come to Japan?” Ikuto’s eyes widened when he saw who the female staff was.

The said blonde smiled, “ I finished my culinary training and decided to come back to Japan to study pastry with an alumni. He’s the owner of this café.”

The man nodded in understanding and smiled at one of the friends he made during his time in Paris.

“Anyways, table for one?” She asked.

Ikuto looked over to where Amu and Yukito was situated. Amu’s back was turned to him so she couldn’t see him. But Yukito’s vantage point saw who was at the door and immediately pointed in his direction.

Amu looked over her shoulders and was surprised to see Ikuto at the door.

“Ikuto nii-chan!”

“Oh, would you like to sit with Amu-san then?” Lulu asked as she gestured him to their table.

Ikuto was about to decline when Yukito came over and pulled him by the hand to bring him over to where she was sitting.

“Ah good afternoon Tsukiyomi-san.”

For some reason, the way the pinkette addressed him perturbed him. He had seen the interaction between her and Kukai and she had called the brunette ‘Kukai-kun’. 

“Ikuto-onii chan! It’s my first day of school. I made lots and lots of friends today!” The bluenette girl happily told him of her day.

“That’s great Yukito-chan,” and then he turned his attention towards the pinkette, “I hope I’m not intruding on you both.”

Amu smiled, “It’s fine, Tsukiyomi-san. The more people the merrier, right Yukito?”

The bluenette nodded as she munched on the waffle confection that she had ordered for lunch. Seeing the smeared cream on the side of her lips, Amu shook her head as she smiled, “What did I tell you about not making a mess on your face when you eat?” she said as she grabbed a napkin to clean off the whipped cream.

Ikuto couldn’t help but smiled at the affection and attention the pinkette has for the bluenette. Despite her being a year younger, Amu seems to hold a very gentle aura around that made makes one feel at ease. Maybe it comes from being a mother.

His eyes widened when he realized something. Didn’t Tadase confessed to her recently? Does that mean that she’s single? Did something happen to the father?

Before his thoughts could go any further, Lulu came up to their table, “Ikuto-kun, what would you like for lunch?”

The blue hair man quickly looked through the menu and said, “Taiyaki.”

Amu turned to him with eyes going wide, “That’s not a meal.”

“It’s fine,” Ikuto smiled, “It will last me enough until dinner time.” Right as he said that, his stomach growled quite loudly to the point that the table next to them looked over to see what caused that noise.

“Ikuto,” Amu said firmly, “You have to eat real food. You can’t just survive on sweets.” She took the menu from him and quickly scanned, “You like salmon right? We’ll get him a salmon teriyaki, Lulu.” And with that the blonde waitress took the menu from her and let them be.

Ikuto looked at Amu with a quizzical eyes, “How did you know that I like salmon?”

Amu inwardly gasped. Shoot! How could she slip up like that? Her instinctual need of getting Ikuto to eat got the better of her and made her say things she shouldn’t have. Ikuto’s a picky eater and it’s something she’s known about the blue hair man since high school.

“Ah! It’s because when we were at the sushi restaurant, I noticed that you went for a lot of salmon nigiri and a lot of sushi with salmon in it.” Which wasn’t a lie. Throughout the night, Marie was scolding the man for only picking the pieces with salmon in them and told him to eat other types of fish so the rest of them can have some too.

Ikuto didn’t say anything and the more he got quiet, the more the pinkette got nervous, “That’s why I thought Ikuto liked salmon.”

“Ikuto.”

Amu looked up at the blue hair man and saw that he was smiling at her. “You just called me ‘Ikuto’ again.”

The pinkette gasped as she made her second mistake in five minutes. How could she let herself go like that? Didn’t she remind herself every day to keep a safe distance from him? And here she was, slipping up and breaking the rules she set for herself just because of his presence.

“S-sorry! It’s rude of me, isn’t it Tsukiyomi-san?” she apologized as she tried to correct herself.

“I don’t mind you calling me Ikuto, Amu.” The man said as he reassured her. He leaned forward to look at her, “You don’t mind me calling you by your first name anyways.”

“Actually, I was really surprised that you had called me by my first name that I didn’t know what to say.”

“Oh, I’m really sorry for being so rude,” Ikuto apologized as he explained with his head low, “I’ve been in Europe for so long that I completely forgot about Japanese etiquettes. I guess you don’t like me calling you in such a familiar way when we’ve just met recently.”

Amu shook her head, “A-ah, It’s fine. If that’s the case then you can just call me Amu, Tsukiyomi-san.”

“The you can call me Ikuto, Amu. You called Kukai by his name too. I’m hurt. You don’t want to be friends?” Amu didn’t know what to say. The entire exchange is making her throw all her resolve out the window with this man. Throughout their high school career, she never interacted directly with Ikuto. Now that they’re conversing with one another, Amu wondered if this is how Ikuto talks to other girls in general. And his childish tendencies are throwing her off balance too.

When Amu didn’t say anything, Ikuto started getting nervous, “Wait Amu, you actually don’t want to be friends?”

Oh shoot! “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t mind being friends at all Tsuki-!”

“Ikuto.”

Suddenly, Lulu came over to their table, “One salmon teriyaki, enjoy!”

Ikuto then looked at Amu,” I won’t eat this until you decided to call me Ikuto.”

Amu sweat-dropped and didn't know how to make of this situation. The look on his face was so serious too. What the heck? Is it that much of a bother to him that she was being so formal with him? He’s acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Even Yukito doesn’t act like this.

“Ikuto nii-chan, you’re being bad by not eating.” Yukito chimed in. The child was confused by the conversation between the two adults but she caught on to the last part of the conversation enough that she said what she said.

Ikuto was about to say something when he heard the pinkette laughed. Embarrassed that a child had called him out on his behavior, Ikuto decided to pick up his fork and dig in to his lunch. If anything, his behavior was setting a bad example on Yukito and he didn’t want that.

“Okay, okay. I’ll start calling you Ikuto from now on.” Amu finally relented after Ikuto’s cute persistence. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea but it wasn’t like anything bad will come out of calling him how he wants.

The image of her laughter etched into Ikuto’s mind and he suddenly felt embarrassed and slightly self-conscious. He busied himself with the food in front of him, hopefully to get his mind off of the image he just saw.

“While we at it, let’s start sitting next to each other in class too. We have some classes together.”

Amu felt her heart dropped a tiny but. Calling him by his first name is already too much. Is it a good idea to be so close by his side as well?

Before she could put her thought out, Yukito squealed, “Mama, Mama look!” Amu turned toward the television that Yukito was pointing to and her eyes widened.

This was the important thing she completely forgot about.

“It’s Utau-chan singing Mama!”

“Oh, Hoshino Utau is my sister, Yukito-chan. Do you want to meet her?”

The bluenette’s eyes sparkled at the idea of seeing her favorite idol, “Can I?” Then she turned to her mother, “Can I meet her mama?!”

“The first midterm week is in two weeks. Utau is actually coming back next week from tour and will be staying in Japan to continue her debut.” Ikuto explained, “Why don’t you both come over and I’ll make us lunch? Let’s invite Tadase and Kukai as well.”

At this point, Yukito grabbed the pinkette by the arm and pleaded with her mother, “Mama, can we go, please?”

What should she do? She had no reason to say no. Should she say that Yukito can go instead and she’ll stay home? But it would be rude to leave Yukito in their care.

“O-okay.” Yukito squealed with joy at the thought of seeing the blonde idol.

Amu felt her heart threatening to beat out of her chest. Throughout the entire ordeal, she had completely forgotten about one thing when seeing Ikuto again and now she has to find a way to face her next dilemma: seeing her old friend again.


	5. Just This Moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any of the Shugo Chara characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit. This story, however, is written by DaTenshi Yuki. Please do not plagiarize or use for other works without permission. Thank you and enjoy!

Amu felt her face heat up slight and her heart feeling a bit anxious as she felt the stares around her and the whispers. She could almost hear what they were talking about and it was because of the blue hair man that was sitting next to her.

True to his words, Ikuto sat next to Amu in all their classes together. He would wait outside for her when she’s on her way to or come in to class when he knows that Amu was already in there. It was like this for past couple weeks and even after the midterms, that everyone was starting to notice the pinkette.

Amu was never good at being the center of attention. She was never good at socializing in high school and she knew that many had thought of her as a “cool and spicy” girl. The pinkette was just shy but she was never good at being honest with herself which led to so many misconceptions about her character.

That’s why her old friends would giggle and laugh at her saying that her real character is just so different from what her classmates would say about her. They had even encouraged her to be more honest about her feelings, but it backfired in so many ways with stories about her character getting out of hand, albeit in a comical way.

Amu could always hear the disappointed whines coming from the girls when they saw that Ikuto would wait outside for her or deliberately sit next to her. The blue hair man, for that matter, seemed unfazed by the attention but he was aware enough that he told the pinkette, should anyone harass her because of her associations with him, she was to tell him immediately.

When the pinkette had heard that, she couldn’t help but thought how sweet Ikuto was and she even had to admit she felt her heart fluttered slightly. But Amu immediately stomped that thought out. The pinkette knew Ikuto have always been protective of his friends and the people important to him. It’s probably his instinct to shield the people he loves from harm-!

No, no; she’s definitely not in that category of the people he loves. Maybe it’s because she’s a close friend of Marie and Tsukasa that he felt the need to protect his close relative’s friends.

Yeah, that’s it. That logic makes much more sense to her.

“Amu.”

Her eyes looked up to see Ikuto eyeing her with a hint of worry.

“Ikuto, what’s wrong?”

“I’ve been calling your name a couple times now,” he said, “Are you okay?”

“O-oh, yeah! I was just thinking about how I did on my midterm.” She hastily replied, hoping to ease the bluenette’s worries.

Nodding in understand, they both got out of their seats to walk out of the lecture hall, “I’m sure you did fine. You’ve studied at lot and you seemed like you really knew your materials when Kukai was asking you questions non-stop during the group study session.”

Amu sweat-dropped as she thought back to the week before of how intense Kukai could be; not only in sports but also his studies as well.

“Oh, by the way,” Ikuto started, “my sister came back a couple days ago and she agreed to have lunch next Saturday. I’ll let you know the details before then.”

“I see.” Amu said in a far-off voice. The pinkette still haven’t thought about what to do when facing her old friend again. At least she’ll have some time to think about it.

“And also, apparently, she went to Tsukasa’s office to say her greetings and met Yukito. They hit it off quite well. Yukito was ecstatic when Utau came in.”

Amu’s eyes widened in pure shock as she processed what Ikuto had said, “W-what? They’ve met already?”

“Yeah, Tsukasa-san had some last-minute meeting he couldn’t get away from and had asked Utau to pick up both Kei and Yukito from school when she was on her way to campus.”

“I-is she still there?” Amu stuttered. She hadn’t expected to see Utau yet. The pinkette wasn’t prepared to see the blonde friend if she were to face her right now.

Tsukiyomi Utau was her best friend from high school. They had made plans to stay in contact with each other once the blonde settled a bit in her new home in Paris. But during that time, when circumstances changed for the pinkette, she had made the difficult decision to cut off all contacts with the people she once knew, including Utau.

Knowing Utau, the blonde will be beyond furious when she sees the pinkette again. Amu hadn’t prepared her heart or made any plans on how she was going to solve this tricky situation.

“Tsukasa said she just left the campus. She’s making preparations to hold her first concert here in Japan.”

At that news, Amu felt her heart relaxed a bit and smile. “That’s great. I’m sure Yukito would definitely want to go see her perform. Her music and voice always made Yukito very happy.”

Ikuto observed Amu slacked posture and felt slightly relieved. For the past couple weeks, he had noticed the pinkette’s tense stature around him. Ikuto had honestly wondered if this was any indication of whether she was truly avoiding him after their initial introduction. But at the same time, he also saw that ever since his close association with the pinkette, there were constant whispers and gossips around campus. And he could see them pointing at the pinkette as they gossip god knows what to each other.

After that, the bluenette had then told the pinkette that if anyone hurt her because of him, that she were to let him know and he will deal with them accordingly. He had a brief situation like this when Utau was in her first week of their high school.

Because the upper class didn’t know Utau’s last name was the same as the blue hair male, they immediately felt threaten by her presence when she came into his classroom one day and was being so friendly with Ikuto. Apparently Utau was cornered by his fan girls that same day and had threatened her to stay away from their “Ikuto-sama”. Of course, with Utau’s fierce nature she was able to fend for herself and when those girls realized who she was in relations to Ikuto, they had begged for her forgiveness, asked her not to tell Ikuto about it and wanted to be her friend.

Utau has a good head on her shoulder and is perceptive about people’s characters so she knows who real friends are and who aren’t. But he never made it his priority to look over her shoulder as to who her companions are.

Regardless though, he won’t let anything happen to the pinkette.

_I will protect her if anyone dares to harm her in any way._

“What kind of music do you like, Amu?”

"Hmm,” Amu wondered as she looked up at the sunny sky, “I don’t have any preference to what kinds of music I enjoy listening to the most.”

“But” she continued as she felt the heat creeping up her neck, “I like the melodic sounds that comes from the violin.”

“Oh, why the violin?” Ikuto was curious as to out of all the instruments the pinkette chose, she had picked the one instrument he liked playing the most.

“I know all instruments can produce beautiful music and melody when mastered,” she continued, “but I remember listening to someone playing the violin once and it was the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard.”

Why was she telling him all this?! He had originally asked about her taste in music. She didn’t have to tell him what instrument she liked to hear the most! And why was her heart beating so quickly now? Stupid Amu! Always saying the most unnecessary things!

“You really think the violin is beautiful?” Ikuto asked. He wasn’t sure why but when the pinkette had told him that, he felt his heart slightly fluttered in his chest. It wasn’t everyday someone comments about the instrument that he holds dear in in heart.

Amu blushed as she looked down and nodded, “Y-yeah.”

“Then I want to play something for you next time.” At that comment, the pinkette immediately snapped her head up to look at him, eyes wide.

“Huh?”

Ikuto grinned widely as he looked at her, “I actually play the violin. It’s my hobby.”

Well, the pinkette knew that. But she was more shocked by the bluenette’s offer and she tried to quickly refuse, waving her hands, “N-no! You don’t have to do that.” She frantically said.

“I don’t have to, but I want to, Amu. It’s not every day someone tells me that the violin is a beautiful thing,” the lanky man explained. Amu saw that Ikuto was smiling very widely at her. Was he that happy about what she said? It wasn’t a lie though.

But his smile was making her heart running a mile a minute. She felt her control over her heart slipping just slightly and the pinkette was trying very hard at the moment to gain back that loss of control.

“So, Amu,” Ikuto said as he continued grinning at her, “let me play something for you next time, yeah?”

At that, the pinkette couldn’t deny that she had lost to her feelings today. Just for today, she’ll let her feelings go with the flow. Just for today, to let her heart feel like this again.

Amu then smiled at Ikuto, “Okay, play something for me next time.”

It’s just for today.


	6. Reminiscent and Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!

** Reminiscent and Resolution **

_The bed creaked with the movement of two bodies moving against each other. As he rammed against her from behind, he could pick up the sounds of her whimpers as she tried to hold in her voice._

_He smirked and leaned forward, licking the shell of her ears as he whispered, “I want to hear your voice, please” and emphasized it as he angled his body higher to get a better position of his thrust._

_“A-ah! Ikuto!” the female cried out. Ikuto felt her insides squeezed him and it felt damn near divine. He grunted as he picked up the pace of that particular spot. He could tell from her cries that she was feeling it as well and he continued his thrust to help them both seek out the pleasure they wanted._

_“I-Ikuto!” the girl cried out as she panted frantically. Her legs were trembling as she started to lose her strength; she couldn’t hold it in anymore._

_He continued to pump in and out of her until she started squeezing him tightly due to her orgasm._

_He could almost feel himself coming. He could almost-!_

Midnight blue eyes shot wide open. Ikuto sat up on his bed panting, as he felt his heart thundering against his chest.

The dream was different this time. And it was him having full blown sex with her. Ikuto looked down at the tent in his pants and groan. Cursing him when he realized that he had ejaculated in his pants and it got soaked.

Carefully, easing himself off the bed, he quickly discarded his pants and boxers as well as his top to take a much-needed shower.

Turning the shower head on, he let himself be washed over by the warm water. Feeling the tenseness of his body leaving him, Ikuto finally sighed in bliss.

Throughout this whole time, he had been thinking that it was just a dream and that it wasn’t real. Now he wondered what if it was real. What if he really did have sex with someone that night? Even if he did, he couldn’t even see her face so he couldn’t possibly find her. And the part that confused him the most was that he didn’t know why he cared.

If he was really with someone that night and they did the deed, he could just treat it as a one-night stand. But there was just something about that dream and the girl that made him compel to care and it confused him all the more as to why.

Realizing that there was no answer for him and feeling his fingers starting to prune from staying in the shower for too long, Ikuto decided to find answers for another day.

After drying his body and putting on some clothes, Ikuto went downstairs to get some milk only to hear the sound of a car coming into the driveway.

 _Must be Utau coming back from rehearsal practice_ , Ikuto thought.

When he heard the sound of a door opening with tired “I’m home”, Ikuto asked, “Hey kiddo, how was your day?”

“Tired.”

Ikuto chuckled, “Rough day huh?”

When he was met with no response, he looked up to see Utau standing in her spot, eyeing at him.

Ikuto frowned, “What?”

“I saw you today with someone. Who is that girl?”

That girl? Ikuto frowned in confusion.

“She had pink hair.”

Realization dawned on him when he realized who Utau was talking about. “Oh, that’s a friend that I just met a couple months ago through Marie and Tsukasa,” he explained as he took out a glass and carton of milk from the fridge, “Her name is Hinamori Amu.”

“Hina-mori, Amu.” Utau repeated in a whispered voice. When Utau didn’t say anything else, Ikuto continued, “You’ve met Yukito today, right? That was Amu’s daughter. You’ll see Amu next week for brunch.”

When Ikuto offered the glass of milk to his sister, he frowned as he saw her eyes staring at him widely in shock.

Ikuto’s eyes furrowed in confusion but before he could ask her what was wrong, Utau had ran up to her bedroom.

Ikuto scratched his head in confusion. What was up with Utau? She looked like she has seen a ghost with the way her face went pale. Maybe she just needs a hot shower and some sleep, and she’ll be fine tomorrow. He’ll leave some food for her tomorrow before going to class.

* * *

Ikuto stood outside of the building where his next class was going to be at. He was waiting for Amu to come before going into the classroom together but with each passing minute, he frowned and would look at his watch.

It’s not like Amu to be so late for class though and it’s her first class too. He continued to look out for signs of pink hair, only to spot Tadase walking towards him.

“Ikuto nii-san, how come you’re not going to class yet?”

“I’m waiting for Amu before going in together.” Tadase eyes widened slightly before telling his friend, “Amu’s skipping classes today,”

“What?”

“I was at Tsukasa’s office when she called him, asking him to help her pick up Yukito from daycare. Apparently, she had some last-minute important things to do so just for today, she skipped her classes.”

“Oh,” Ikuto murmured as they head inside the building and into their classes together.

“Do you always wait for Amu-chan before going to class?”

Ikuto looked over to Tadase before rubbing his neck, “Yeah,” he admitted, “But don’t worry. I don’t feel that way for her.” For some reason, his heart felt a bit heavy when he said that last sentence. “I just see her as a friend.”

Tadase laughed awkwardly at his close friend, “You don’t have to explain to me. I’m just curious. Amu actually told me how you were so persistent in wanting her to call you by her first name.”

Ikuto eyed Tadase in surprise. So, Amu tells these types of things to Tadase. Then again, they’ve known each other for quite a while. But the fact that they talk and meet each other beyond school made Ikuto feel a certain type of way.

“What else did she tell you?” he asked, feeling compelled to know how much of his interaction with Amu is relayed to Tadase. Does she tell him everything?

Tadase shook his head, “That’s it.”

“I see.” Tadase regarded Ikuto’s reactions with amusement. Ikuto hadn’t noticed the way his shoulders tensed up when Tadase was speaking about Amu, nor noticed the way he breath out a sigh of relief and the way his shoulders relaxed slightly.

Tadase grinned to himself, _Ah, so it’s like that._

* * *

“Come on in,” Amu whispered as she opened the door to her apartment and led the way in for the guest to follow behind her.

“Would you like hot tea, Utau?”

Utau looked around the house, trying to assess how her friend have been living for the past years before answering her, “Hot tea is fine.”

Amu smiled at the blonde as she nodded before going into the kitchen to boil some hot water.

Utau looked over to her old friend as she eyed her carefully. She could tell from Amu’s stance that the pinkette was guarding herself mentally. Even though they haven’t seen each other for almost five years now, Utau knew that Amu thought she’d get mad at her for what she did.

Of course, she was mad. She was livid. But beyond those anger, she was also hurt and confused as to why her best friend had just up and left without telling her anything. When she had tried to contact the pinkette the first time since she had settled down in Paris, her call didn’t go through. She had tried multiple times throughout the week to call, text and even email the pinkette.

Eventually, she had called some of their other friends to find out what was going on with Amu, only for her to hear that they haven’t heard nor seen her at all for the past months. Utau couldn’t return to Japan when one opportunity after another came her way. The only thing she could do was entrust Nadeshiko and the others with going to see if Amu was all right.

Utau was shocked when she had heard that the house was sold and occupied by a new family. 

_“Did Amu-chan say anything to you before you left? Weren’t you the last one to see her?”_

_Utau shook her head but responded on the phone, “No, she didn’t tell me anything.” Although there was something nagging her. She did remember that when Amu had sent her off at the airport, the pinkette had said something to her._

_She couldn’t remember exactly what Amu had said but it had left her confused because she had a forlorn expression on her. It had looked like Amu was about to cry._

_Utau had simply thought that the pinkette was just sad that they won’t be able to see each other for a while._

_But now, she had wondered if the pinkette knew that she was going to leave them permanently. And if so, why didn’t’ she told her nor any anyone else for that matter?_

_A single tear trailed down her face as her heart felt the pain of betrayal. It was faint but Nadeshiko heard a slight hiccup from her end of the line, “Utau.”_

_When Utau didn’t say anything she continued, “Utau, focus on what you should do in Paris for now. There’s nothing you can do about it. If Amu’s family sold the house, that means there’s a huge chance that they’re not in Tokyo anymore.”_

Utau was brought out of her memory when Amu placed a hot cup of green tea on the table next to her. Amu sat on the chair opposite of Utau as she held her hands tightly and asked in a small voice, “How have you been?”

Utau held the mug with both her hands and let the heat spread to her palms, “I’ve been good.”

“I see.” The silence hung between them as the only sound was the clock that was ticking on the wall with each passing second. Utau looked down at her tea and focused on the reflection from the hot liquid looking back at her. “Amu,” Utau started, gripping the cup in her hand as tightly as she possibly could without breaking it, “why didn’t you tell us you and your family were going to move away from Tokyo?”

The question confused the pinkette, “move? What did you mean, ‘move’?”. What did Utau meant? Amu knew that the moment her friends would start looking for her, they’d visit her house. But the way Utau had said it, what did that meant?

“Nadeshiko and Rima went to your house at some point and they saw that a new family occupied the home.”

The words pierce right through Amu as she froze in shock. After she left home, she never once made the effort to see how her family was. If anything, she felt that they wouldn’t even want to see her anyways. But what Utau just said; did that meant that after she left, her parents moved away so she could never find them again? Was what she did so shameful that they never want to see her again?

Amu’s eyes widened and she felt her body froze. Her chest suddenly felt tight and it was getting harder to breath.

“I-I see.” Amu stuttered as she tried to steady her breathing so the tears that were threatening to come out won’t make themselves known. She held her hands even tighter trying to stay in control of the swirls of emotions that were battling inside of her.

Amu’s reaction confused Utau. It was as if this was the first time Amu heard of it and the ramification of that thought hit Utau as she asked, “You didn’t know?”

Amu looked up at Utau with a sad smile as she shook her head, “I left the house when my parents disowned me.”

* * *

Kukai gulped down the rest of his water bottle, feeling refreshed from the cool liquid after a couple of soccer matches with his friends.

“Man, that was a good game. We should do it again sometimes. Definitely want to play a match against Hinamori with the way you talk about her, Tadase.”

“What if Amu ends up beating you,” Ikuto grinned

Tadase silently chuckle, “She really athletic despite her small build.”

“Then I’ll do a rematch!” Kukai grinned as he gave them a thumbs up before asking Tadase, “Speaking of, did Hinamori told you why she wasn’t on campus today?”

Tadase shook his head, “She didn’t tell me anything,” then his eyes showed a hint of sadness as he added, “I wish she would though.”

Kukai looked over to his blonde friend and then adjusted his body so that he was facing Tadase as he asked, “How did you and Hinamori meet each other? What do you like about her?”

Ikuto rolled his eyes, “What are you? A gossip girl? Aren’t you being too nosy?” But his curiosity was also piqued and he had also wondered the same thing too.

Kukai laughed as he agreed, “Yeah you’re right, I’m going to play another game with Daichi and Ran. You guys want to go for another match?”

“I’m good. I want to rest up a bit before going home.” Ikuto answered. Tadase responded in agreement.

When Kukai ran back over to the field, Tadase made himself comfortable by leaning back on his hands, “I first met Amu-chan at Tsukasa-san’s place.”

Ikuto looked over to Tadase as the blonde continued, “Amu-chan offered to babysit Keiichi-kun so that Marie-san and Tsukasa-san can go on a date. I don’t remember too much of what happened, but I ended up staying and helping her out. She was having her hands full with Yukito too.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Tadase shrugged as he grinned, “When Kukai asked about Amu-chan just now, it felt like you wanted to know.”

Ikuto frowned. Were his feelings that obvious or was Tadase just much more perceptive? Either way, he mentally cursed himself for being seen through so easily.

And with what Tadase had said, Ikuto couldn’t help but ask the one question he felt he already knew the answer to, “Tadase, is Amu a single mother?”

Tadase looked over at Ikuto and then nodded his head, “Yeah. I mean, if she wasn’t, I wouldn’t have confessed, right?”

Ikuto shrugged, “How would I know? You told me you finally like a girl and then I realize she has a daughter. I didn’t put much thought into it until recently.”

Tadase laughed as the way Ikuto put his logic together. Really, Ikuto can be an idiot sometimes despite the way he upholds himself. If his fangirls ever realized that he was actually like this, they’d be shocked about his real character.

“Where’s Yukito father?”

Instantly, Tadase’s mirth was gone and he sighed, “To be honest, I don’t know. Amu-chan doesn’t like talking about what had happened that led up to Yukito’s birth,” he admitted, “And I feel like it would be rude of me if I had asked Marie-san or Tsukasa-san. And to be honest it doesn’t matter, because it gives me a chance to make Amu-chan happy.”

Ikuto didn’t say anything as he let the words sink in. Tadase eyed Ikuto with a scrutinized look and then turned toward his friend with a grin, “I won’t lose to you Ikuto.”

Ikuto looked to Tadase, eyes wide and confused. He was even more perturbed with the way Tadase was just smiling at him so innocently. What was even more surprising was the way Tadase had addressed him without any honorifics. “What are you talking about?”

Tadase mentally rolled his eyes. Ikuto is perceptive when it comes to others’ feelings but when it involves him, it was like he had become a complete idiot.

Truth be told, he was glad that Ikuto was oblivious of his own feelings. He knew how he felt when he had saw Amu and Ikuto together on campus one day. They were just talking but Tadase had noticed something different about Amu. Although it was the same smile Amu normally wore, Tadase felt as if Amu had smiled radiantly beautiful that day. Not to say that she wasn’t genuine when she was around Tadase. However, that day was the first time he felt that Amu-chan was truly happy and it pained him to see that that smile wasn’t because of him.

Tadase wants to see that smile directed at him. He wants to be the one that she feels happy to be by her side. He still hasn’t given up on the pinkette yet.

_If that's the way it's going to be, then I won't hold back anymore._


	7. Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!

Utau’s eyes widened, trying to rear her head in on what was just said.

“Disowned?”

Amu nodded, not able to trust her voice at the moment to answer Utau.

“Because you got pregnant?”

Amu looked at Utau with a sad smile as she nodded again. To say that Utau was shocked is an understatement. She had met Amu’s parents before. They looked like the kind of people who would love Amu no matter what she did.

It seemed like Amu sensed what Utau was thinking because she said, “Well, not exactly because I was pregnant.”

_Although she was still feeling the pain of pushing the baby out, her heart swelled at the sounds of her cries._

_The nurse and doctor quickly drained out the fluids from her noise and mouth before happily laid the tiny baby on the blanket right next to Amu._

_“Congratulations! It’s a girl!”_

_The baby’s face scrunched up as it cried incessantly but Amu didn’t care. She was out in the world and she was beautiful. Although it was faint, the color of her hair had a tinge of blue sticking out. Her face flushed bright pink against her pale skin as she continued to cry._

_“Aren’t you a lucky little one? You’re born on the first snow day of this year.” The nurse cooed at the baby before she asked Amu behind her surgical mask, “Would you like to give her a name?”_

_To be honest, Amu didn’t think of a name at all. She was going to let her adoptive parents be the one to name her. But as she looked at the tiny being that was starting to cool down a bit from her sobs, Amu couldn’t help but smiled, “Yukito.”_

“The plan was to put the baby up for adoption. But, I couldn’t give her away after that,” Amu smiled faintly from her memories before her expression turned to sorrow, “But my dad wants nothing to do with Yukito."

_“No, absolutely not. We will not keep her at all, Amu,” Hinamori Tsumugu refused when Amu explained her new intention with the newborn._

_“Papa, why can’t I? I—I really love her. I promise I’ll keep up my grades in college while taking care of Yukito. I—”_

_“Yukito?” Tsumugu cried indignantly, “You named her?”_

_Amu held on to the tiny bundle in her arm with a smile on her face as she looked down at the sleeping form, “She was born on a snow day and her face look pale when she came out.”_

_At this point Midori tried to placate her husband, “Dear, maybe we should consider – “_

_“No!” Tsumugu stubbornly refused, “I won’t consider it at all, Midori!” he then turned to Amu with determination in his eyes, “Amu, you have a few days to decide this on your own: either you give the baby away for adoption or you will leave this family. Your choice!”_

Gently lifting the tea to her lips, Amu slowly sipped the calming liquid to prevent herself from giving in to her emotions. She looked over at Utau, who had an unreadable expression on her face.

“I’m sorry."

When Utau didn’t respond, Amu continued, “I know me leaving without a word probably made you guys worried; there’s really nothing I can say to explain myself.”

Silence enveloped between them as the seconds ticked by. Amu decided not to say anything more and waited for Utau to respond.

After a few minutes, Utau sighed and finally looked up at Amu, “I’m still mad at you, Amu” the blonde admitted, “but I’m glad you’re okay after all this time. I just –”

Sensing what Utau wanted to say, Amu clarified, “It’s not because I didn’t trust you, Utau.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything? If I hadn’t gone to find you today, would you have reached out at all in the end?” Amu could hear a hint of anger in Utau’s voice and honestly, she deserved every bit of it. She had hurt her friend in so many ways that Amu felt she doesn’t deserve any forgiveness from Utau.

But she won’t lie to Utau as well because that’s the one thing the blonde will never tolerate.

“I was never going to reach out at all.” Amu truthfully admitted, not missing the slight flinch of hurt from Utau’s expression. “After Yukito was born, a lot of things happened and by the time I finally recovered, I just –” the rush of emotions from the memories she long let go was started to come up again but she held it back, “ I just didn’t know how else to move on but to let go of my past and focus on Yukito instead.”

“But who knew that we’d meet again like this,” Amu laughed in irony of the situation.

“I’m really sorry Utau. I won’t ask you to forgive me. I just want to apologize for hurting you. It was never my intention to hurt you guys.”

Utau sighed in frustration. There were a lot of things she wanted to say to Amu; most of them involved her yelling and unleashing her anger at the pinkette for doubting their friendship. But right now, she was emotionally exhausted.

She was still trying to reel in the reality of what her friend had gone through. If it was her, her family would’ve supported her all the way if she did what Amu went through. Trying to see things from another angle, Utau had made her decision, “I won’t say I understood why you did what you did, but I won’t blame you for it.”

Utau looked at Amu and smiled, “I’m just glad you’re doing well.”

Amu returned the same sentiment and felt tears prickling her eyes, “Thank you.”

“There’s still some questions I do want to ask though: who’s the father?”

Amu knew this question was unavoidable, but she wasn’t ready to admit everything, so she opted for the closest truth “It was a drunken one-night stand.”

Eyes widened in shock Utau asked, “So you don’t know who it is?”

Shaking her head, “I do know, but it’s better off that he doesn’t know.” The words for some reason pricked her heart a little at the truth but she wasn’t in the mood to analyzing it.

Amu could tell Utau wanted to say more, “Can we drop this for now?” she pleaded, “I promise I will tell you everything one day, but I’m just not ready yet.”

Utau wanted to fight Amu on that until Amu said, “Besides, I have to go to Tsukasa’s for dinner.”

Looking at the clock on the wall, it was indeed almost five in the evening. Deciding that she’ll just drop her questioning for today, Utau nodded. They both got up to dress before heading out.

As they were headed near the door, Utau said, “I think I’ll go eat dinner at Tsukasa’s too.”

At that point, Amu realized one more thing and she faced Utau, “I need you to do me one favor.” The pinkette had wondered how she was going to word what she wanted to say. But she realized it was best not to beat around the bush.

Utau looked at Amu expectantly and waited for the pinkette to continue.

“Please don’t get offended but I need you to pretend we don’t know each other.”

* * *

Utau felt herself blushing as she could feel the eye of admiration from Yukito, who is sitting in front of her, throughout the entire dinner.

Amu sent Utau an apologetic look before poking Yukito on her left cheek, “Hey, I know you love her but you have to eat your dinner, Yukito.”

“Okay,” the little bluenette comply as she took another bite of her food.

The blonde idol finally felt her shoulders relaxed a little bit after that. Amu’s entrance to motherhood still shocks her but with each passing minute, she could see how much the pinkette had changed. Looking closely at Yukito, she realized how similar the bluenette resemble her mother, san the hair color.

“I’m surprised you came to dinner Utau,” Ikuto commented, who was on Utau’s right, “I thought you were going to be busy until the end of this week.”

Utau shrugged, “I had a little time off; I figured I should come for dinner since you guys were coming here anyways.”

Kukai grinned, “How’s your work coming along Utau?”

As Utau gave Kukai a run down of the things she’s been working on since she’s arrived to Japan, Amu felt a bit relieved at the flow of the situation.

When she had requested the blonde about the favor of pretending to be strangers, Utau didn’t know how to feel. But Amu had simply said that she didn’t want to answer any unwanted questions of how they knew each other.

_“But doesn’t Ikuto know who you are?” Utau asked, “Isn’t that the reason why you guys were talking?”_

_Amu shook her head, “Nope, he doesn’t seem to know who I was to you.”_

_Utau eyes widened in disbelief, “But we’ve been friends since freshman year of high school! And you even came to our house a couple times!”_

_Amu shrugged in nonchalance, “Either way, I just kept quiet about my past. So please, just do this one favor for me?”_

Utau reluctantly did as she was asked but it just felt wrong to hide that they used to know each other.

“We should celebrate after your first concert Utau,” Kukai suggested, “It’s been a long time since we’ve gotten together to do anything.”

Tadase nodded in agreement, “We’ve all been in different places since graduation.”

Kukai laughed as he smirked at the blue hair man, “Maybe we can finally get Ikuto to drink again.”

“Not a chance,” Ikuto shot down the idea as quickly as it was proposed.

Confused, Utau asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Pointing at Ikuto with his thumb, Kukai explained, “Remember he got so drunk during your high school prom night? He said he had the worst hangover ever and swore to never drink again.”

Ikuto rolled his eyes, “You fed me one too many shots and cheap vodka taste like sh—,” he was about to cursed but realizing he was in hearing of two children and he noticed the slight frown etched on Amu’s face.

Ikuto quickly composed himself, “I’m not drinking again, period.” Chancing a glance at Amu, he noticed that she had sent him a small smile to let him know her thanks of noticing but his attention was quickly taken away when Kukai said, “It’s a celebration for Utau, just lift that rule for one night.”

Tsukasa and Marie looked on in mirth at their lively dinner guests. Keiichi and Yukito were egging them on, not understanding why they were arguing with each other, but they thought it was just fun. Amu were looking at them in amusement and Tadase tried to be the mediator between them.

No one noticed how quiet Utau was. Her facial expression was a look of focus.

_Prom night_ , she thought. She looked at Amu, then at Yukito and finally tilted her head toward her right to her brother.

Her eyes widened as a realization hit her.

_It can’t be!_


	8. Unexpected Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!
> 
> Warning: There’s a lemon scene at the end but it’s not the couple you’re expecting. You’ve been warned!

“I’ll come pick you up after school is over today, alright?” Amu relayed to Yukito as they were near her pre-school gate. When Yukito didn’t say anything, she looked down at the bluenette.

It was just for a second but she thought there was a flash of fear etched on Yukito’s face before the bluenette looked up at her mother with a cheerful smile on her face.

“Okay, Mama!” the girl said as she took the bento from her mother before she flashed another grin at her, “What did you make today?”

Amu relaxed herself; it was probably just morning tiredness, “You’ll see.”

The teacher then came out to the front gate and greeted, “Good Morning Yukito-chan!”

“Good Morning Sensei,” the bluenette greeted before turning over to her mother, “Have a good day at school, Mama!” she said before running inside the school building.

* * *

Ikuto looked at his watch for the umpteenth time. Normally, Ikuto would walk in to class, but seeing that the pinkette wasn’t in the lecture hall, he decided to wait for her outside the classroom. Déjà vu was starting to hit him and he wondered if he should give Amu a call. But before he did so, he felt a pat on his back, “Did you wait long Ikuto?”

The said man turned and smiled as he saw who it was, “No, not at all.”

Walking into the classroom was nerve wracking as usual for the pinkette, mainly because she could feel the intense stares from all direction of the lecture hall.

“Got any plans this weekend besides brunch?” Ikuto asked, “Kukai was wondering if you want to come out to play soccer with him on Sunday.”

“Maybe another day? I already made plans for that day.”

“Kukai’s been wanting to play against you for a while now. Better tell him when or else he’ll think you’re avoiding him on purpose because you can’t live up to your reputation.” Ikuto grinned cheekily.

Laughing along with Ikuto, Amu nodded and together they waited for the lecture to start.

* * *

“Tadase-kun, thank you so much for helping me out! And so last minute too!”

Tadase laughed as he looked at the blue hair girl, “It’s fine, Miki. Kiseki told me you’ve worked really hard on it and it would be a shame for the photoshoot to go badly because your model suddenly got sick. I’m done with classes for today anyways.”

Miki squealed in delight as she hugged the blonde, “You’re the best Tadase!”

“Ahem!”

Miki and Tadase turned their heads to the figure by the door. The man with light violet hair frowned as he glared at the scene before him.

Tadase gave his cousin an awkward smile, aware of the position he was in, “Kiseki.”

“Miki, who do you think helped you out?” the man asked as he walked in the room to the pair.

Unfazed by Kiseki’s attitude, Miki let go of Tadase and skipped over to her boyfriend. She looked up at the man with her large blue eyes, “You,” and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Kiseki blushed furiously at the sudden affection in front of an audience and Miki giggled as she turned back to Tadase, “Let’s head over to the studio now. Your modeling partner is in there already.” Tadase nodded and headed toward the exit.

After getting out of his trance, Kiseki followed them out of the room. As they walked into the studio, Miki spotted someone and pulled Tadase along with her.

“Tadase, he’s your modeling partner today,” Miki introduced the blonde. Tadase noted his partner’s appearance: dark scarlet hair and dark red eyes, contrasting to his own blonde hair and bright ruby eyes. Tadase smiled as he extended his hand, “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Hotori Tadase.”

The man returned the sentiment with a smile of his own as he took the offered courtesy, “Likewise, the name is Takahashi Reiji.”

* * *

“Stop!”

Utau stopped singing upon hearing her manager interrupting her in the middle of the recording. Yukari Sanjo opened the door to the recording studio and gave Utau a worried look, “Are you okay, Utau? You don’t seem focus today.”

Utau shook her head as she said, “I’m fine, Sanjo-san. We can go again.”

Yukari sighed, “We’ll take an hour break. It’s lunch time anyways.”

Nodding her head, Utau walked out of the studio room. She made her way to rooftop deck to get some fresh air. Walking over to the rail, she could see the expanse of Tokyo and the view always makes her feel at ease. At a high vantage point, she could see the clear sky above her, see the blue ocean in the far distance and feel the cool wind blowing across her face.

This is her favorite spot to be in when life challenges her in many ways. She sighed in contemplation: yesterday was still overwhelming her thoughts that she wasn’t even sure if it had even happened at all. The fact that she finally found Amu, her current situation and the revelation she made.

Could Ikuto be the guy Amu was talking about? How should she even approach this topic to the pinkette? It sounds so ludicrous. But the way Amu had avoided the issue; it seemed like a topic that needs to be ventured delicately.

And she is not one for delicate situation, no matter how old she gets.

“Got something on your mind?”

Utau turned around to the sound of the voice and when she saw who it was, she smiled.

* * *

Kukai looked at the time on his watch and then at the take-out bag in his other hand.

After greeted Yukari, he made his way up to the top of the building. Yukari had told him that Utau didn’t seem like herself during practice so she told her to take a break but she wasn’t sure where the blonde had went.

Kukai had a gut feeling of where she went and went along with his instinct.

Truth be told, he wanted to spend some time alone with her to talk with her. After she had came back to Japan there wasn’t an opportunity to meet up.

Deciding that she’s just too busy to plan free time for herself, he would just come in during her lunch breaks. He wanted to discuss with her the things they’ve talked about before she left for Paris anyways.

But after many years, what would she say?

After all, he never responded to her confession.

* * *

“R-Reiji!” Utau chastised, “We’re outside! And don’t leave a hickey! I still have to go practice after this!” the blonde tried to push the man away from her neck.

Gleaming with mischief in his eyes, the red head smirked and unbuttoned her top, “We’re up on a rooftop building, Utau. What are you afraid of?” he snickered, “And don’t you want to try out public sex for once?” he emphasized his point by wandering his hands from her thighs to the inside of her skirt while the other hand unclasped her bra, exposing her breasts.

“No!” Utau glowered and blushed furiously as she stopped his hands from going any further, “And for your information, people do come up here for lunch sometimes.”

Reiji licked his lips, “Then you’ll just have to keep quiet.” With that, he inserted a finger inside of her. The unexpected appendage caused her to cry out in pleasure.

“Ah! Wait!” Utau pleaded. Ignoring her heed, he inserted a second finger in her after she loosened up a bit. Utau grit her teeth, trying not to moan from the feeling of having him pumping her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to position herself comfortably. Reiji smirked at her efforts to keep her cries in and traced his thumb over her clit as he worked a third finger inside her.

At this point, Utau’s hips were moving in synced with his hand and Reiji couldn’t help but tease her for it, “And you were protesting this just a few minutes ago.”

“Shut up!” Utau growled before focusing back to the pleasure. Stepping up his efforts to pleasure his lover, he enclosed his mouth over her right nipple and gave it a hard suck. The added stimulation engulfed her entire body as she could feel her end coming soon.

“Reiji,” Utau squeaked, “I’m-!” Reiji cut her off by kissing her forcefully as he pumped her as hard and fast as he could. Her body tried to hold out as long as it could but soon enough she was sent over the edge.

Her body wracked with the onslaught of her release and she cried out in the kiss as he continued to pump his fingers inside of her.

Reiji broke the kiss and used his hand to help leverage Utau to a more comfortable sitting position. Utau panted as she tried to regain her breath and coming down from her high.

With her legs spread out and her come leaking out of her womanhood, Reiji couldn’t help but groan as he buried his head on her shoulder, “Damn it, I didn’t bring a condom today.”

Utau was about to laugh when the sound of a loud thud caught both their attentions. She whipped her head to the sound and her heart dropped at being caught by the one person she wasn’t expecting from to see her in a compromise position.

“K-Kukai?”


	9. Unfold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!

Utau could feel the confusing stares stabbing her. She could see from her peripheral that Ikuto was trying really hard to hold in his smirk at her predicament.

“This is Reiji,” she introduced the man next to her, “my boyfriend,” She said the last part with a low mutter as she blushed.

Putting his hand to his chest in mock hurt, the red head replied with a grin, “You couldn’t say that ‘I’m the love of your life!’” which earned him a stomp on his foot. Reiji chuckled in reply.

“I’m assuming Reiji-kun and Utau-chan met in Paris then?” Tadase inquired.

Reiji smiled at the blonde, “We met when we were shooting a music video for one of her albums,” he explained and added, “She hated my guts in the beginning.”

Utau blushed even more and attempted to hide her embarrassment by shoving as much food in her mouth as she could.

It was awaited brunch day that was planned in the Tsukiyomi household. Although the plan was to eat with everyone that’s currently sitting at the table besides Reiji, Utau decided to bring her lover along mainly because Reiji would be seen with her quite often from now on. Utau could feel Amu’s eyes as if to say, _you couldn’t tell me about this the other day we talked?_

Tadase laughed, “I could definitely see Utau being like that.”

“But what a small world though,” Ikuto commented as he looked at Tadase, “I didn’t know you model.”

Tadase laughed in embarrassment, “I worked as a part-time model for Miki.”

Utau scrunched her face in confusion, “But didn’t Miki used design clothes for women?”

“Tadase onii-chan looked pretty in a dress!” Yukito added innocently with a smile.

Reiji Ikuto and Utau all looked at Tadase with wide eyes and Amu tried her best not to burst into hysterics at her daughter’s off-handed comment. She gave Tadase an apologetic look, whose face was beet red at the memories of his modeling history.

Feeling the attention flowing away from her, Utau used the opportunity to tease her friend, “Got any pics?”

“Hell no!” Tadase immediately refused, “And I thought we’re talking about Utau and Reiji!”

“I wonder if Miki saved her collection,” Reiji wondered out loud, ignoring Tadase’s outburst. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger, Tadase’s face was getting redder every second.

Ikuto smirked as the couple continued to relentlessly tease the blonde. His eyes then travelled to the one person in the room who hasn’t uttered a single word since he came in.

Kukai was sitting quietly in his seat next to Tadase, just focusing on the food in front of him.

A thought suddenly occurred to him and he turned to the pinkette next to him, “Amu, are you free tomorrow? Kukai’s been wanting to play a game of soccer with you.”

Reiji looked to Ikuto and then to Kukai, “You play soccer too, Kukai-kun? We’ve got to have a match.”

Hearing his name, Kukai turned to the eyes that were looking at him. When Reiji’s words finally sink into his head, he gave a hesitated laugh, “Ah, yeah sure!”

* * *

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help with the dishes?” Amu asked as Utau and Reiji set the dishes down in the sink.

Utau turned to the pinkette, “It’s okay Amu, we’ll handle it from here.”

“Why can’t you be this nice to me?” Reiji pouted in mock hurt. Utau rolled her eyes and turned on the faucet to get started on them.

Amu giggled and decided to leave the pair alone. Seeing Utau the way she remembered the blonde made her feel at ease that her friend hadn’t changed at all. Although it is amusing how Reiji seems to push her buttons on purpose with the intention of annoying her.

As she got back to the living room, Ikuto turned to face her and said, “Amu, are you able to come to the park tomorrow? You never answered that.”

Amu instinctively averted her eyes from Ikuto as she answered, “I already have plans for tomorrow.”

“We’re going to the aquarium!” Yukito happily added, “Mama, me and Tadase onii-chan!”

“Eh?” Ikuto eyes widened at the news. Kukai glanced from Tadase’s face to Amu’s and then to Ikuto’s. Amu’s face turned flush pink and Tadase was smiling at the bluenette, “Aren’t you excited to see the dolphins, Yukito-chan?”

The little girl nodded.

“Just the three of you?” Ikuto asked dumbfounded. Amu didn’t say anything but nodded. She could feel Ikuto’s eyes on her and she wondered why she felt so guilty about Ikuto finding out about it.

Truthfully, even Amu didn’t know how the situation came to be about. This had happened after the dinner at Tsukasa’s place.

_Tadase was driving Amu and Yukito home after dinner. As they neared Amu’s apartment, Tadase parked his car in one of the parking spaces near the apartment and turned off the engine, “I’ll help carry Yukito up to your apartment,” he offered._

_“No, it’s fine; I can handle it.” Amu shook her head as she rejected the offer but Tadase persisted, “I want to do this Amu-chan,” he said, “And besides, we haven’t really talked with just the two of us and I want to ask you something.”_

_Amu’s eyes widened at the implication. Sensing what she was thinking, Tadase gave her a Cheshire grin, “I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend…yet.”_

_The pinkette didn’t realize her shoulders had gotten tensed until she started relaxing them. “I feel a bit hurt by that reaction though.” Tadase chuckled._

_“Tadase-kun, I-“_

_“I’m just teasing,” the blonde said, “I did say I would wait until your feelings would come around.”_

_Amu looked to Tadase with a smile and nodded._

_“Now, come on,” he said as gesture to the bluenette in the baby seat, “Let’s put this little monster to bed and chat a little.”_

_Amu laughed alongside with Tadase as they got out of the car. Tadase carried Yukito while Amu took her daughter’s backpack._

_When they finally settled the girl to bed after putting her in her pajamas and helped her brush her teeth, both adults settled on the couch._

_“Are you free this weekend, Amu-chan?”_

_Amu looked to Tadase and shook her head, “Just the brunch.”_

_Tadase smiled at her answer, “I was able to get two tickets to the aquarium that’s opening this weekend. I was wondering if you and Yukito would like to come with me. Children under five are free admissions.”_

_Amu looked to Tadase with wide eyes, “I thought you said –,“ Sensing what Amu was going to say, Tadase smiled innocently as he said, “I said I wasn’t going to ask you to be my girlfriend, Amu-chan. I’m just a friend asking another friend, who happens to be a very beautiful woman, to hang out with me this weekend.”_

_She been had! Amu had been completely played by his word choices and technicality._

_Before she could say anything else, Tadase added in with another grin, “I told Yukito that we can go together this weekend, but she said she wanted to ask you first.” He chuckled as he added, “Yukito is so precious.”_

_At that news, the pinkette was torn. Amu had promised Yukito about going to the aquarium when it opened but the pinkette was thinking of going after the hype had died down a bit so it would be less crowded. Amu glared at Tadase, who had a smug look on his face as he tilted his head in mock innocence, “Well?”_

_“You’re using Yukito to get me, Tadase. That’s sly of you.” She said with a flush on her face._

_At that comment, Tadase’s face completely turned serious and moved closer to the pinkette. Amu felt her heart pounding at their close proximity and had tried to back away from him but realized that she was already on the other end of the sofa._

_Shit!_

_Tadase had her caged with his other arm, preventing her from escaping, “T-Tadase-kun, what’re you-“_

_“I just don’t want to have any regrets and pursue you while I still have a chance,” He said softly as he cupped her face with his free hand, “I’ll do whatever it takes for you to look at me and choose me. I just want to prove to you how much I love you and Yukito.”_

_Amu’s eyes widened at Tadase’s words. It wasn’t like she didn’t knew about Tadase’s feelings for her. It was because she knew that Amu wanted to keep as much distance as possible. But at the same time, she also questioned why she had hesitated to accept Tadase’s feelings._

_If she were to be completely honest, Amu knew she held a degree of some type of feeling for Tadase, but whether it was romantic or on a deep friendship level she wasn’t sure._

_And because she wasn’t sure, she didn’t want to go out with Tadase while she has her doubts._

_A part of her wanted to refuse the blonde because it hurt to see him pine for her when she herself wasn’t sure of her own feelings._

_“You don’t have to answer me or anything. I want you to want me on your own. Just let me prove to you my sincerity. That’s all I ask.”_

_Biting her lips, Amu looked up to Tadase with a flush on her face, “Okay, we can go to the aquarium together this weekend.”_

“So,” Tadase said, breaking Amu out of her reverie, “you guys have fun tomorrow. Let me know who wins.”


	10. Surprise, Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!
> 
> So, I’ve never written sport descriptions before, but I will try my hardest to make it a clean image as you read it.

“Ready? Go!” Utau called out.

As soon as Utau gave the signal, Kukai instinctual reflexes allowed him the advantage to get to the soccer ball first.

The brunette continued to run with the ball across the right end of the field. The goalie, a rosette hair girl, on the other end of the field readied her stance and tried to pinpoint the direction Kukai was going to kick the ball in.

As Kukai felt he was close enough, he positioned his stance for a powerful kick. But before he could do so, the ball disappeared from his sight. Eyes wide, he turned to see Reiji running across on the other side of the field with the ball.

Immediately, Kukai ran to the dark red hair man with as much speed as he could to catch up to him. When he finally caught up, Kukai tried to kick the ball away from Reiji’s hold but Reiji predicted what the brunette was going to do and used the back of his foot to prevent Kukai from making contact with the ball. Kukai ended up landing on his butt as a result, allowing Reiji to continue racing the ball to the end of the field.

After a good distance, Reiji put a powerful kick to the soccer ball, giving it a curve to make it hard for the goalie, a mint hair boy, from able to predict the direction. The curve worked and ball went right past him.

“YES!” The rosette girl screamed from across the field, “WE GOT ANOTHER SCORE!”

Reiji walked to Kukai who was dusting the dirt off his pants. Kukai smiled and offered a hand to Reiji, “That was a good game.”

The darker red head took the offered hand, “It was a close game, definitely. I can’t get that kind of reflexes when I play sports.”

The rosette girl and the mint hair boy came up to the both of them. The rosette came up to Reiji and high-fived the man, “You were awesome, Reiji-san!”

“Not as good as you Ran-san. You’re the reason they weren’t able to score half of the points because of your goalie skills.”

Ran smiled from the compliment, “Daichi-kun was the one who taught me everything about soccer when I first started,”

The mint hair boy blushed a bit before saying, “Let’s go sit for a bit. I’m beat.”

As they made their way to the side of the field, they sat on the concrete stairs where Utau and Ikuto were.

“You should’ve played with us, Ikuto.” Reiji said as he sat next to Utau.

“You guys needed an even number of players, it’s fine.”

“Reiji-san, where did you learn to play soccer?” Ran asked.

“I played a bit in high school, but I was never in any teams,” the dark hair man explained.

“Your kicks are really precise,” Daichi chimed in, “It was hard for me to pinpoint where your ball was going to land. You have to teach me.”

“Me too!” Ran added in.

Reiji laughed and nodded, “Will do.”

“How come Amu-chan didn't come today?” Ran asked, “You've been wanting to play against her for a while now.”

Kukai gave Ran a grin as he answered, “She’s on a date… with Tadase.”

“No way! For real?!” Ran said excitedly.

Ikuto decided to drown out the conversation. The more he heard, the more he felt irritated for some reason. Every time he thought about Amu and Tadase together, he could feel something rise in his chest in an uneasy way and he didn’t know why. Tadase made it clearly known from the very get-go that he was interested in the pinkette and that he wanted to pursue her.

From the very beginning, he had no intention of interfering because his childhood friend deserves happiness with someone if he really loves them. And the more he spent time with Amu, the more he saw that Amu is a genuinely wonderful person and a dedicated mother. He could see why Tadase came to love Amu and he felt happy knowing that Tadase is pursuing such a person. At the same time, however, he felt irritated for some reason and he couldn’t understand why.

Ikuto sighed.

Ran noticed the dejected look on Ikuto’s face and signaled Kukai and Daichi his way. “Ikuto,” Ran called out, “You okay?”

Ikuto looked to his friends as he raised his eyebrows in confusion, “What?”

“You looked like someone kicked you puppy,” Daichi tried to explain and Ran nudged him with her elbow, “He didn’t look _that_ pitiful.”

Ikuto frowned. Was his expression that grim?

“You okay, dude?” Kukai asked.

Not wanting to explain in detail, Ikuto answered, “Actually, I’m just really hungry.” At that, his stomach growled loudly as if to agree with his statement.

Daichi looked at his watch, “Well, it _is_ past lunchtime,” He said as he got up, “Let’s go get dinner or something.”

Ran looked around and then realized, “Where’s Utau-chan and Reiji-san?”

Right after that, Ikuto felt his phone buzzed. Taking it out to read the content, he showed it to the group, “Looks like they decided to get some alone time for the rest of the day.”

“Aw, I wish they could’ve stayed for dinner with us,” Ran said in disappointment, “But I heard Reiji-san will be busy with Miki’s photoshoot, so I guess they want some alone time. They look so sweet together.”

Kukai smiled to Ran, “Yeah, they really do.”

* * *

Yukito eyes gleamed with happiness as she processed her experience today.

Tadase chuckled, “Did you have fun today, Yukito-chan?”

Yukito looked up at Tadase and nodded her head furiously as she hugged the dolphin plush close to her chest, “Uh huh! Especially the dolphin show! They were so pretty and so big! And when they fly! Splash!”

Amu smiled as she shook her head, listening to Yukito’s attempt at explaining her excitement of what she saw. It was late in the afternoon when they’ve finally toured through the entirety of what the aquarium had to offer. They decided to leave and get an early dinner so all three of them can get ready for school and classes the next day.

“I want to come again, next time!” Yukito said excitedly.

“The three of us can definitely come here again, Yukito-chan. As many times as you want, right Amu-chan?” Tadase said to the bluenette and looked to Amu with a knowing smile.

Amu blushed in annoyance at the nuances Tadase was sending her way and opted not to answer the blonde other than replying with, “I’m hungry, let’s get food.” Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrated in her pocket.

“Yeah! Food!” Yukito happily repeated.

* * *

“I’m going to send Ran home,” Daichi said as they all exit the ramen restaurant they had just eaten from, “Do you guys need a ride too?”

“I brought my car along,” Ikuto replied, “I’ll drive Kukai home then.”

“Okay then! I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” Ran said as she and Daichi greeted them good night before heading to where Daichi had parked his car.

As Ikuto and Kukai head the opposite way of the couple, Kukai turned to Ikuto, “Want to go to a bar?”

Ikuto looked to Kukai, “Huh?”

Kukai sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t feel like going home yet, so I figured why not go to a bar.”

Ikuto frowned. Aside from the drinking part, he wouldn’t mind staying out a little bit more. The sun had just set, and he didn’t really have class until noon.

“Okay, but I’m not drinking though,” he said.

* * *

Kukai chugged through the first bottle of beer in the speed of light and sighed in content as he leaned back in his seat.

Ikuto leaned back in his seat as well, “Dude, slow down. We just got here.”

“I will. I will, don’t worry.” Kukai laughed, waving off Ikuto’s worry before opening the second bottle of beer and tilt it as far back as he could to let the cool liquid flow.

Ikuto sighed and waited. If Kukai decides to chug through the third one again, then he’ll do something about it. The brunette was drinking as if his life depended on it.

Thankfully, Kukai didn’t chug through the bottle and set it on the table as he sighed, “Utau looks very happy.”

Ikuto looked at Kukai a bit before walking out of his seat to the bar and ordered something from the bartender. Kukai looked on with curiosity. When the bartender quickly made his order and handed him the drink, Ikuto walked back to the seat with Kukai eyeing him.

“I thought you weren’t going to drink,” Kukai laughed.

“I need something to deal with this conversation.”

Kukai laughed again before leaning back comfortably in his seat, “Utau probably told you right? That she confessed to me?”

Ikuto didn’t comment and just continued to listen. Utau had told him the gist of what had happened between them.

“Honestly, it came out of nowhere,” Kukai continued, “I never thought about Utau in that sense but when I saw how beautiful she was during prom night, I think that was when I held a little bit of feelings for her.”

Ikuto took a sip of his drink. Prom night; the night that haunted him for quite a while; the mystery that he never had an answer to. Suddenly, he felt his phone vibrated in his pocket but decided to ignore it for now and get back to it later.

“When she confessed to me, I was happy, but I didn’t know if I wanted to be in a relationship with her when she’s off chasing her dreams.”

Ikuto sighed, “But you never gave her an answer at all.”

Kukai flinched as guilt plagued his expression. Ikuto set his drink down and turn to his friend, “Look, you don’t have to feel guilty at all about what you didn’t do. It doesn’t even matter anymore. Utau’s happy. Reiji’s a good guy. You never have to give her any answer in the end.”

Kukai didn’t say anything but took a swig from the bottle before setting back onto the table. “Yeah, I knew it doesn’t matter anymore. I was too late.” Kukai agreed before turning to Ikuto, “But you can still go for it,”

Raising an eyebrow, Ikuto asked, “What are you talking about?”

Kukai rolled his eyes, “Come on, are you honestly that dense?” he scoffed in disbelief, “You have feelings for Hinamori.”

Ikuto choked on his drink at the unexpected statement. The alcohol went up to his nasal, burning his sinuses and causing him to cough. Kukai grabbed some napkin and gave them to Ikuto to clean himself up while Kukai wiped the spilled alcohol off the table.

“Are you nuts? Tadase likes her; and weren’t we talking about your problems?”

Ignoring the last part, Kukai grinned as he continued, “You didn’t deny you have feelings for her. Do you know what face you were making when you heard they were going out together today?”

“And what face would that be?” Ikuto challenged.

“The look of someone who doesn’t want to see them be with another person.” Kukai replied, “Honestly, I’ve never seen you look like that face before so kudos to you for finally liking someone for the first time in your life.”

“I did not make that face,” Ikuto gritted his teeth.

“Sure, and you weren’t thinking about Amu being with Tadase today when we were talking about them also.” Kukai sarcastically replied in a flat tone.

“You guys were talking about her. Of course, I’ll be thinking of them.” The blue hair man retorted. This was getting ridiculous. Here he thought Kukai wanted to just let out his feelings for his sister so that his friend could move on and now they’re talking about his supposed feelings for Amu.

“Ikuto, you still haven’t denied my original statement so I’m going to ask you again: Do you like Hinamori Amu? If you can look me in the eye and say you don’t like her, then I’ll believe you.”

Ikuto glared at his friend. They both knew that Ikuto would never lie. This was a quality that Utau and Ikuto both share as siblings and it’s something Kukai knows very well. As each second goes by, Kukai grin went wider and Ikuto sighed as he relaxed his shoulders, “I honestly don’t know.” Ikuto replied truthfully, “Even if I do like her, it doesn’t matter. Tadase is pursuing her and I’m not going to interfere with that.”

“Just because Hotori likes her, doesn’t mean Hinamori likes him back. Call me crazy, but I think Hinamori has some feelings for you.”

Ikuto rolled his eyes, “Alright now you’re just spouting nonsense.”

“I’m not. The way she looks at you is different,” Kukai insisted.

“And you know this how?”

Kukai looked at Ikuto, “Because that was how Utau looked at me back then,” he said. Ikuto eyes widened slightly at the last part. Kukai chugged the rest of his beer.

“Look,” Kukai continued, “as much as I’m cheering Hotori on, I also want to cheer you on too, even if it’s the same person. I just don’t want you to regret for not doing anything with your feelings.”

Ikuto looked to Kukai, understanding what his friend was trying to tell him, so he asked, “Are you regretting it?”

The brunette looked to Ikuto and smiled a sad smile, “I would’ve done things differently.”

* * *

Ikuto parked the car and shut off the engine but he decided to stay in his seat a little longer and lean back into his seat as he sighed.

His mind brought him back to the conversation between him and Kukai. Pursuing Amu? It wasn’t an idea he had even thought about. But he couldn’t deny the fact that he feels some sort of attraction to the pinkette.

Suddenly, he remembered the words Tadase had said to him a while back.

 _I won’t lose to you, Ikuto_.

Was that what Tadase had meant when he said that?

Deciding to sort out his thoughts on the matter for another day, Ikuto finally got out of his car and quietly went inside the house.

As he was walked up the staircase, Utau came out of the bathroom and looked at Ikuto with a surprised expression, “I’m surprised you stayed out so late. Where were you?”

“Just went to a bar with Kukai; Catching up on stuff” Ikuto nonchalantly said; he was not in the mood to expose the topics that were discussed tonight, and he certainly didn’t have the energy for it right now. All he wanted to do was shower and knock out.

Utau just shrugged and decided to go back to her room but when Ikuto wasn’t going into the direction he was supposed to, she looked back and her eyes widened as she realized where he was heading, “Wait Ikuto, that room is-!”

Ikuto opened the room and turned on the lights. When he looked up, his eyes widened in pure shock. Amu looked at him with a horrified expression. She was in the middle of putting the top part of her pajamas on when Ikuto had walked in on her. After realizing he was still in the room, he quickly apologized and shut the door behind him.

Ikuto covered his mouth with his hand as he felt his face heating up. Just now in his room was…was…a half-naked Amu. But what was she doing here?!

“Didn’t you read my text Ikuto?” Utau slapped her brother on the arm. Judging by the blush on her brother’s face, she didn’t have to guess what Ikuto had saw. Amu had just finished her shower only a few minutes ago and the pinkette had only a towel on when she went inside her bedroom.

Ikuto turned to Utau dumbfounded, “What text?”

“I texted you a few hours ago that Amu’s apartment building had a gas leak so she and Yukito are going to be staying with us until her place is settled.” The blonde explained in a hushed voice, “I moved your stuff to the room next to mine because yours has a connected bathroom and I thought it would be more appropriate for her to have it. Seriously, did you not read my text?”

Ikuto vaguely remembered that his phone had at one point notified him that someone had messaged him but the situation at that time prevented him from checking the text.

“Oh.”

The room opened slightly to reveal a very red-faced pinkette, “Is everything okay?,” she said, having heard the conversation.

Utau looked to Amu, “Everything’s fine. You should just go to sleep. Sorry for this idiot brother of mine.”

Amu shook her head with a blush on her face, “It’s okay. He didn’t know,” she said and looked to Ikuto, “Sorry for taking your room.”

It could just his tiredness playing tricks on him, or maybe because the topic of his feelings hit him in the face, but this was the first time he ever thought that Amu looked really cute with the way she was looking at him. Maybe it was the blush that was coloring her cheeks, or the smell of fresh soap assaulting his scent that was coming from the pinkette. Either way, it made his heart skipped a beat.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied, having realized that Amu had said something, “I don’t have much stuff in that room anyways.”

Feeling that the situation has been resolved, Utau stretched her muscles and yawned as she headed back to her room, “I’m going to bed. I have early practice tomorrow. Good night!” and closed the door shut.

When Ikuto and Amu realized that it was just the two of them, they both felt the residual embarrassment of what had happened a few minutes ago.

The awkward silence was tensed and Ikuto wanted to say something, anything, to kill it, “S-sorry about walking in on you changing,” Ikuto apologized.

Ikuto didn’t think it was possible that a person’s face could go any redder but Amu’s looked like a very dark cherry tomato as she said meekly, “I-It’s okay. You didn’t know.” She could feel her heart hammering against her chest in wild embarrassment.

They both stood in their respective position without saying anything until Ikuto decided that it was late in the night, “Well, I guess we’ll go to class together tomorrow?”

“Okay,” she replied with a smiled before saying, “Good night.”

“Good night.” Ikuto greeted back before Amu gently closed the door.

* * *

After showering and finishing up his nightly routine, Ikuto sank to his bed and relaxed his entire body on the soft mattress as he looked up at the ceiling. His mind felt numb with everything that went on today and it was as if everything starting to slowly sink into his brain.

_You have feelings for Hinamori._

At first, he honestly thought it was a crazy statement. What Ikuto felt for Amu…. he wasn’t sure whether it was on a romantic level or pure friendship. Regardless, he knew from the beginning that Amu was a different type of girl he has ever met.

Then again, his attitude back then was the reason why he attracted only the type of girls who wanted to get with him. He always thought he was good at reading women due to his experience with them, but Amu was different. She was easy to talk to, very calming to be around and a breath of fresh air.

So what? It just means she’s a great friend. Ikuto felt a slight prick to his chest at the thought of the last statement.

He sighed, there is no way he can have feelings for Amu. And Kukai is definitely wrong about Amu's feelings for him. Although, Amu is very friendly towards him, he could feel her putting distance between them at arm’s length. It was something he noticed recently due to them being together so often and he noted in his head. It bothered him even more the fact that the pinkette didn’t seem to exhibit that same treatment toward Tadase and Kukai, which confused him even more.

Ikuto groaned in frustration for even thinking about this. He isn’t some lovesick teenager anymore and here he was trying to analyze a situation he has no idea nor experience in. The bluenette glanced at the clock to see that his thoughts ran past midnight.

Deciding to just sleep and process this on another day, he pulled the blankets over him and situated himself.

As he closed his eyes, the image of Amu’s pale smooth skin and perky breast came to mind and he groaned again, this time not due to frustration.

Is he going to get _any_ sleep tonight?


	11. Settling In, Unsettling Feelings Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!

_His head was spinning but he could feel his mind was numb from pleasure as he continued to thrust into that warm heat, eliciting a whimpered cry from the body underneath him._

_“Be…gentle please,” the girl whimpered as she felt the onslaught of his thrust. Pale smooth skin, supple chest, a small waist and slender thighs were illuminated under the bright moon light shining through the window as he continued to take her in his arms._

_The only thing he couldn’t see was her face, but he knew she was writhing in the ecstasy of pleasure. He wanted to pull her body to a position where the moon shines on her face, so that he could see the girl he was taking in his arms._

_He wanted to ask her why she looked so sad._

His ears picked up the sound of his peaceful alarm clock. Groaning from the abrupt wake up call, he felt around his bed for his phone before realizing he had put it on the glass table.

Ikuto opened one eye to see where his phone was only to look straight into deep golden orbs.

“Whoa!” Ikuto backed away instantly from being surprised at a pair of eyes looking at him in the morning.

“Good morning, Ikuto nii chan!” Yukito giggled as she climbed onto the bed.

“Y-Yukito chan? What are you doing here?” Ikuto asked as he rubbed a hand over his beating heart from being startled so early in the morning, “Kami, you scared me.”

Yukito pouted as she looked down at her hands, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I wanted to wake you up,” the bluenette apologized as she explained, “Mama is making breakfast and she wants us all together before we eat.”

“Eh?” What was Yukito talking about? Mama? Breakfast? Why would Amu come all the way from her place to make breakfast for him? His sleep addled mind took a while to process Yukito’s words until he remembered.

“Oh yeah,” Ikuto said with a smile, “Your mama and you are living with us for a while.”

Yukito nodded and looked up, “Are you okay? You sound hurt in your sleep.”

Ikuto’s face immediately flushed as he realized exactly, and with horror, what Yukito was referring to. He pat Yukito’s head, “Don’t worry Yukito chan, I’m not hurt.” Then he plucked her off the bed and threw her in the air before catching her again. Yukito squealed with laughter and Ikuto smiled, “Man, I hope you stay pure like this forever,” he mused.

* * *

Laying out four toast on the buttered pan, Amu let the bread toast through for a bit. Making breakfast was the least she could do since she would be staying in someone’s place for a while.

A part of her felt like she was intruding, and it made her uncomfortable but Utau had reassured her multiple times that the house was too big for only two people anyway. Plus, it’s only temporary and it would be a waste to spend money on a hotel. Seeing logic on Utau’s side, Amu relented, though still a bit hesitant. Yukito, on the other hand, was ecstatic. While she was unpacking their luggage for their temporary stay, Yukito was in Utau’s room the entire time, talking and laughing the entire time.

Amu smiled at the memory. Utau had been uncomfortable with the amount of energy Yukito exerted when she first met the bluenette, but it seemed that she had gotten used to it. The pinkette could see how happy Yukito was for being able to be with her favorite idol up close.

The sound of Utau’s voice and Yukito’s laughter brought Amu out of her thoughts and she looked down at the pan, relieved that the toast didn’t burnt from her lack of supervision.

As she transferred the toast to their respectively plates, she was greeted with a ‘good morning’ from Utau.

“Morning,” Amu smiled, “Well aren’t you two so lively in the morning.”

Utau laughed as she helped Amu carry out the other two plates of servings to the marbled countertop table, “Yukito was telling me how she accidently gave Ikuto a heart attack this morning,” Utau looked over to the bluenette and gave her a thumbs up and a wink, “good job.”

Amu shook her head in amusement, “Stop teaching her weird things, and I’m shocked with how little ingredients you have in the fridge.”

“My work schedule is irregular so I just snack in between breaks or do take-outs when I feel really hungry.”

Amu frowned in response, “That’s not good, Utau. You’re a singer; you need nutrition for your body to handle the amount of work you’re putting in,” Amu took out her phone and started typing into it as she said, “I’m going to do some grocery shopping today. Do you have any food in mind you want to eat?”

“Taiyaki!” Yukito immediately called out.

“Ramen!” was Utau’s choice.

Amu sweat dropped at the choices, “I meant actual food.”

“I’m pretty sure whatever you make will taste good, Amu. Buy whatever you want.” Utau responded as she dug into her sunny side eggs.

“What about Ikuto?” she wondered, “Is there a particular dish he likes to eat?”

Utau looked to Amu with a smirk on her face, “I thought you know more about his taste buds than I do. If you don’t know, why don’t you ask Ikuto yourself?”

“Ask me what?”

Ikuto came down the stairs after getting ready when he smelled the most amazing smell that set his stomach off.

Although it was a harmless topic, Amu felt like she was caught talking about someone she shouldn’t be discussing about, especially with Utau. From the way, Utau answered her before, it sounded like the blonde was trying to insinuate something.

Sensing Amu’s silence, Utau answered for her, “Amu wanted to know what kinds of food you like. She going to go do some grocery shopping today.”

“Making meals is the least I could do for letting us stay here.”

“It smells good,” Ikuto commented as he sat across from Amu, “And don’t worry about catering to our taste buds. Just cook whatever you think is good. I’m sure whatever you make will taste great, right Yukito?”

“Mama makes the yummiest food,” Yukito said with her mouth full, causing Amu to lightly chastise the bluenette, “What did I tell you about talking with your mouth full?” Utau eyed Amu’s reaction and find it amusing at the slight blush that was creeping up to the pinkette’s neck.

The blonde turned to Ikuto, “Go help Amu with the grocery today,” Utau said bluntly.

With food still in his mouth, Ikuto just nodded in response.

* * *

“Be a good girl okay, Yukito?” Amu said before kissing the bluenette on the forehead, who smiled back at her, “Yeah, I will.”

The pinkette then hand her a small bag. Yukito looked inside the content to find two onigiris, a curry bread and a juice box.

“Sorry about the lunch today, Yukito,” Amu apologized, “I promise you’ll have homemade obento again tomorrow,”

Yukito looked up and smiled as she said, “It’s okay, Mama.”

Seeing that it was time for her to leave, Amu bowed to the teacher before waving to Yukito as she walked out of the nursery ground, “Have fun at school today!”

“You too!” Yukito called out as she continued to wave back to her mother. When Amu was finally out of sight, sensei looked down to the bluenette, “Alright Yukito, ready for another fun day?”

The girl looked to her sensei but didn’t say anything.

* * *

Amu made her way across the street, seeing the familiar silver car. Opening the car door, she slid into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt when Ikuto asked, “What time do you end class today?”

“I end at noon,” the pinkette answered, “I usually use the rest of that time to study before I pick Yukito up.”

“Perfect,” Ikuto smiled, “I end at three. We could meet up and kill time on campus before picking Yukito up together.”

“Yeah,” Amu nodded in agreement before Ikuto started driving.

No one said anything as Ikuto was focusing on the road. The silent drive comforted the pinkette. It felt nice to be able to enjoy the morning scenery, letting it pass by her in a blur. Normally, she would be the one to drive both her and Yukito around, so being able to relax for once like this is a small breath of fresh air that Amu didn’t know she missed.

The only thing that makes her nervous about her current situation was being so close to Ikuto. As time went on, she felt herself being more relaxed around Ikuto and that made her anxious for some reason. It was as if her mind couldn’t help herself wanting to be around him yet at the same time, want to run away from him.

But regardless of her conflicted feeling, she was happy at how close Ikuto and Yukito had gotten. It made her feel as if she was doing something right for Yukito.

“You seem to be in a good mood this morning.” Velvet voice commented, startling the pinkette from her thoughts.

Amu looked to Ikuto and laughed, “What makes you say that?”

Ikuto glanced briefly at Amu with a smile before focusing back on the road, “You were smiling to yourself.”

“Oh,” Amu blushed, feeling embarrassed for some reason. Was her expression that easy to read? Ikuto chuckled at Amu’s reaction, causing Amu’s face to go redder.

“Don’t tell me,” Ikuto started as he smirked, briefly leering at Amu,” you were thinking of something dirty?”

Amu bristled at the question, “N-No!”

Raising an eyebrow at the pinkette’s reaction, Ikuto grinned, “Are you sure, Amu? You seemed quite heated about it.”

“I wasn’t thinking of anything dirty, you pervert! And focus on the road.”

Laughing because of how Amu was reacting, Ikuto finally decided to stop teasing her, “Okay, okay, I’ll stop….for now.”

“Geez, I guessed certain things haven’t changed with you from high school,” Amu mused, but the moment she voiced it, she realized she had slipped up.

Ikuto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “What do you mean?”

Heart pounding in trying to make up an excuse of what she just said, Amu was relieved when she felt her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Taking out her phone for the call, Amu looked at the name to see that it was Tadase. Grateful for the distraction and hopefully, diverge the topic of her slip-up, she told Ikuto, “It’s Tadase,” and proceed to answer the call.

Ikuto decided to stayed silent and look for a place to park as Amu took the call. Wondering what Tadase wanted to call Amu about so early in the morning.

“I probably won’t see you today then Tadase-kun,” Amu said, “I’m going to go grocery shopping with Ikuto after picking up Yukito.”

Ikuto felt his heart swelled with a victorious feeling for some reason. Hearing Amu saying she’ll be with him made him smiled.

“Okay, then. Have fun at the photoshoot. Bye!”

“Anything going on with Tadase?” Ikuto asked as he shut off the engine of the car.

“He won’t be on campus until the afternoon,” Amu responded, “Guess Miki’s photoshoot is a lot busier than he thought. He wants me to lend him my notes if anything important comes up.”

“Are you guys dating?” Ikuto asked, surprising himself when he realized how blunt his question was.

The question caught Amu off guard as she tried to put together a response,” We…well, not really…it’s just…”

Seeing how he had unfairly put the pinkette on the spot, Ikuto retracted, “Sorry,” he apologized, “It’s not my business. I shouldn’t have asked you that.” He unbuckled his seatbelt, and grabbed his bag as he smiled at the pinkette, “Let’s get to class.”

Amu couldn’t say anything as she tried to figure out what had just happened. Ikuto looked upset for some reason and she couldn’t figure out why.

But regardless though, Amu sighed a breath of relief that Ikuto didn’t remember her little slip up.

* * *

Tadase hung up the phone after finishing his call with Amu. Truth be told, he didn’t like the living situation Amu is in one bit.

Tadase wasn’t blind. He could see that Amu has some kind of affection for Ikuto but for some reason seemed to hold him at a distance. It was as if she was being careful with Ikuto so she doesn’t get too close to him. Tadase couldn’t understand why but he was going to use it to his advantage.

Still, seeing how close Amu and Ikuto are pains him a bit. He’ll admit that he’s actually jealous of Ikuto’s interaction with Amu. That one time he saw her smiling for Ikuto was enough to tell him that Amu has some sort of feelings for his blue hair friend.

“Tadase?”

Tadase was brought out of his thought as he turned, seeing Reiji looking at him with a concerned expression, “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

The blonde nodded, “Everything’s fine. I was just making a call.”

When one of the stylists called out both their names to start the photoshoot, they both made their way to the studio.

Reiji looked to the blonde as they both let their stylists take a final look at their outfits before the shoot. Before walking to the studio set up, the red head took hold of Tadase’s wrist. The blonde turned around, surprised at being grabbed so suddenly. Reiji smiled, “If you need to talk to someone about it, I’m all ears.”

* * *

“So, Ikuto,” Kukai grinned to his friend, “how do you feel about your current living situation?”

They were currently standing outside the café they usually frequent. It was still early in the morning so Ikuto and Kukai decided to wait until Amu was done with her next class before getting lunch together.

While waiting, Ikuto told him about his current situation at home and Kukai couldn’t help but be in awe at the development.

“How did that happen anyway?”

Ikuto shrugged, “They said there was a gas leak or something.”

“Well, regardless, isn’t that a good thing?” Kukai grinned.

“What do you mean?”

Rolling his eyes and mentally thinking ‘here we go again’, Kukai responded, “You get to be together with Hinamori, at home and at school, is what I mean.”

“Can we not talk about this right now? I’m barely even processing what we’ve talked about yesterday.”

Letting his hand up in surrender, Kukai dropped the subject and decided to sit back and relax. Cherry blossom season passed by a while ago. The weather was getting warmer as May was almost over. Although their midterms was only a few week ago, they have to start preparing for their semester’s finals so as not to get screwed over with all the topics they have to know and the topics that they will be learning in the coming month.

“Kukai, Ikuto, why are you guys sitting outside?” a voice asked.

Both male looked up, surprised to see Utau standing over them.

“Utau? What are you doing here?” Ikuto asked as he briefly glanced in Kukai’s direction.

Ikuto couldn’t make out his expression but he was sure that Kukai was just as surprised as he was.

“There were some equipment issues at the studio so they’re bringing people in to fix it,” the blonde explained, “It’s going to take a while so Amu told me to come to this café to meet up with you. She’s almost on her way here so why aren’t you guys going in?”

“Oh,” was all Ikuto could say before he and Kukai both got up and head inside.

Hearing the sound of the bell, Lulu looked up and smiled, “Hey Ikuto, Kukai,” and when she saw Utau, Lulu’s smile went wide, “Utau!”

Seeing the French blonde, Utau returned the sentiment, “Oh wow, Lulu, you work here?”

Both women hugged each other, surprised to see the other and laughed at the situation.

“Let me get you guys a seat,” Lulu said after releasing her hug with Utau, “Just you three?”

“Make that four,” Utau corrected as Lulu gestured them to a table near the windows, “We have one more person coming.”

“Oh is it Amu-san?” the blonde waitress guessed, handing them each a menu and setting one more on the empty seat.

Surprised at her answer, Utau asked, “You know Amu?"

Smiling as she nodded Lulu replied, “Amu-san and Ikuto-kun come here on a regular basis.”

Hearing Lulu’s answer, Kukai covered his mouth to smother the grin that was pulling at his face. Utau smirked devilishly at her brother, “Ooooh, does he now?”

Ikuto pretended he didn’t hear nor see his friend’s or sister’s reaction. It’s not a big deal that he and Amu eat their lunches here anyways. They both have almost the same class together and they both like to eat outside of campus to avoid the long lines during rush hour on the campus food market.

The bell rang again followed by an immediate, “Hi, sorry I’m late!”

“No biggie, Amu we just got here,” Utau said, gesturing the empty seat for Amu, which was so happened to be next to Ikuto’s.

* * *

“Hey, ugly rabbit,”

Yukito turned away from the sand rabbit and cat she was making to see that a girl, with shoulder length ginger colored hair parted on the right side of her forehead, was looking down at her. The girl was slightly taller than Yukito by a few inches but Yukito wasn’t the least bit fazed by her height as she got up from her position and stared at her.

Feeling annoyed by the lack of response from Yukito, the girl tried to provoke the bluenette by saying, “My mom saw your mom getting into a nice car this morning. Is he your new daddy?”

Yukito decided not to respond to the question, opting to reply, “It’s none of your business.” Yukito wasn’t sure how long until playtime was over, so she went back to finish building her sand figurine, hoping to get it done before nap time.

Not liking the way Yukito was acting in front of her, the girl kicked and stomped on the sand figures Yukito was working on, where she ended up stomping on Yukito’s hand.

“What was that for?!” Yukito cried in anger.

“For being ugly and having no daddy in your life!” the girl retorted before pushing Yukito on the ground.

“Kimiko chan! What are you doing to Yukito chan?!” The teacher ran to the two girls to see what was going on.

“I didn’t do anything, sensei!” the girl, Kimiko, innocently replied, “Hinamori-chan accidently tripped and I was just trying to help her up.”

The teacher looked to the bluenette, “Is that true, Yukito chan?” she asked but then she noticed that Yukito was clutching onto her left hand, “What happened to your hand, Yukito-chan?”

“I fell, sensei,” was all Yukito said. Seeing that Yukito had no intention to tattle on her, Kimiko haughtily looked to her teacher, “See sensei? I was just trying to help.”

Not liking the way Yukito looked restrained and gloomy from her usual cheerful self, she decided to separate the two for the time being, “I’ll take it over from here then, Kimiko-chan,” the teacher said, “Thank you, you can go back to playing with the others.”

After the ginger girl left, the teacher help Yukito up off the sandbox, “Let’s take a look at that, Yukito chan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoot me now for writing the last part.


	12. Settling In, Unsettling Feelings Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!

“May I take these plates?”

“That would be great Lulu, thanks,” Utau nodded and moved out of the way for the blonde to clear the table.

“Please send my compliments to the chef,” Amu requested, having always been to this café for all her lunches.

Lulu respond in laughter, “Will do. Loke san will be happy to hear that,” with that she returned to the kitchen with the dirty plates.

Kukai turned to Ikuto as she commented, “I’m surprised you ordered food this time, Ikuto.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Kukai’s right,” Utau added in, “I’m surprised too. You’re always so picky with food, you snack like a kid during lunch and I’m surprise that you’ve been cooking in the kitchen more often at home these days.”

“You make me sound like a degenerate,” Ikuto mumbled, “So what? Isn’t it a good thing then that I’m eating better?”

“The cooking part was a recent thing though,” Utau wondered, “What caused the change?”

“I don’t know,” Ikuto retorted, “I guess I just want to take better care of myself, stop questioning it.” He then looked at the time on his phone and realized that his next class was soon.

“I’m going to go, now,” he declared as he took out his wallet and laid out a big bill, “Let this be my treat,”

While Kukai and Utau grinned, Amu reacted the opposite, “I can pay for myself Ikuto,”

“It’s fine Amu,” Ikuto reassured her, “I think it would be troublesome for Lulu having to split the bill for us to pay separately.”

“But-“ Amu wanted to protest but at the same time Ikuto was right so she didn’t know what to respond.

“If you’re bothered by it, just treat Ikuto next time,” Utau commented.

“We’ll just leave it at that, then,” Ikuto concluded as he started to head out.

“I’m coming with you too,” Kukai said as he followed the bluenette man out the door. Ikuto didn’t say anything and let the brunette walk with him out of the café.

After the man left, it was just Utau and Amu at the table. Amu turned to Utau to see that the blonde was looking out the window and following Ikuto and Kukai’s back until they turned the corner and out of view.

“Utau?”

Said blonde turned around and smiled as she answered to her name, “What’s up?”

Amu knew she didn’t imagine what she just saw, but decided to keep to herself she asked, “Want to get some desserts?”

* * *

As Kukai and Ikuto walked along campus grounds, the bluenette turned to Kukai and asked, “Why did you leave? I know you don’t have class until a couple hours.”

Kukai shrugged, “I’m just walking the food out, what’s wrong with that?”

Sighing, Ikuto countered, “Are you sure it’s not because Utau was there?”

Seeing Kukai being so silent, Ikuto knew he hit the nail on the head, “I thought you just want to stay as friends; shouldn’t you try to act like it?”

“I’m trying to act like a friend,” Kukai sighed in frustration, “I just need some time to get back to where we used to be, but I’m really trying.”

Ikuto left it at that and they both proceeded to walk the rest of the way in silence.

But a couple minutes in, Kukai said, “You should hurry up and sort out your feelings for Hinamori before you regret not doing anything. I think it’s because Hotori noticed your feelings that he decided to make his moves.”

Stunned at the information, Ikuto turned to Kukai and was about to ask what he meant until the brunette man turned the opposite direction and grinned at him, “Good luck!”

* * *

After the end of the lecture, Ikuto stretched in his seat, glad that he was done for the day. Mondays are always the hardest to get back into work mode. As he got up to leave the classroom, a group of girls ran up to him, “Tsukiyomi-san, are you free right now? Would you be free to help us on some of the topics in the class?”

Ikuto thought about it for a bit. Truth be told, he would rather decline the offer, knowing that if he started being nice to these girls, then others would start coming on to him the same way. But Amu did say she was going to be at the library.

Ikuto looked to the girls, who were waiting on his answer. Sighing to himself, if it’s to help….Smiling politely to the girls, “What topics do you need help on?”

Squealing in excitement, they gathered around him, “Before that, would you like to get food together first?”

Holding onto another sigh, Ikuto politely declined, “I will only come for class related topics. Anything outside of that, I’m busy.”

Frowning, the girls decided to not persist any further. It was a miracle to have _the_ Tsukiyomi Ikuto accept helping them in the first place.

Making their way to the library, Ikuto wondered how Amu would react to him coming with a crowd.

Walking into the library entrance, Ikuto scanned through the entire area. Many had turned their heads up to see why the quiet space suddenly got so loud. The librarian by the entranceway glared at the group of girls behind Ikuto and sent them a silent warning.

Ikuto walked further ahead into the computer room, with the girls following him. His eyes finally saw a head of pink hair in the far corner of the room, silently going through her notes on her laptop.

He quickened his steps to where the pinkette was but even as he walked near her, it seemed she couldn’t feel the incoming presence near her. Ikuto noticed that she had headphones in her ears and was dancing to the beat in her chair.

 _So cute_ , Ikuto chuckled.

It wasn’t until Ikuto purposely kneeled in front of her, that Amu finally noticed someone was in her personal bubble.

Eyes widened at the visitor with a blush on her face, Amu took off her headphones and looked at the time on her laptop screen, “I-Ikuto, you’re done a lot earlier than I thought.”

Ikuto chuckled, “Of course. Who knew you had a talent for dancing?”

Her eyes then noticed the four girls that were looking their way. Ikuto’s back was turned to the girls so he couldn’t see the glares the girls were sending to Amu.

Seeing where Amu was looking at, Ikuto explained, “they need help with some topics in class. We’ll look for a space somewhere so that we won’t disturb anyone here.”

Smiling, Amu nodded and Ikuto got up off her knees before turning back to the girls, who reverted their facial expressions back to a smile. Ikuto turned to Amu, “I’ll come to you once I’m done. It shouldn’t take long.”

“Okay,” she replied before seeing Ikuto walk away. Amu was about to put her headphones on to get back to her notes when she noticed that one girl of the group was glaring at her from her spot before she joined the rest of the girls to follow Ikuto.

* * *

“Tsuki-um Ikuto-kun?” one of the girls with dark brown hair blushed as she tried to be more familiar with the blue hair man on first name basis, “It seems you’re always with that girl.”

“Amu is a friend of mine.” Ikuto commented nonchalantly as he opened the textbook page to what they’ve learned today.

“I heard she has a kid, who goes to the nursery school that’s near the college,” Another informed.

“Wow, she’s so young to be a mother.” The dark brown hair girl commented.

“Actually,” the red head of the group said, “She’s a single mother. A friend of mine has a kid who goes to the same nursery as her.”

“I bet she got knocked up because she played around too much back then.” a girl with jet black hair laughed as she said, “What a slut,”

“You should be careful Ikuto-kun,” the red head warned, “a girl that loose is bound to try and seduce you.”

Ikuto’s temper flared at the comments and he slammed his fist down, causing the girls to jump in shock at the sudden anger in the blue hair man. Other students around then looked to their table to see what was going on.

When silence enveloped the entire room, the girls started to get nervous and the people around the room were looking to see what was going to happen next.

The red head of the group moved closer to Ikuto as she tried to ease the tension in the air, “I-Ikuto-kun?”

The girls flinched when Ikuto finally looked up and the glare he was giving them sent a chill down their spines. The temperature in the room suddenly got colder and they felt their hearts beating in nervousness.

“Never ever talk about Hinamori Amu like that ever again in front of me.” Although Ikuto said it in a very low voice, everyone in the room had heard it.

“W-we were just joking,” the red head laughed in nervousness, “right?” the other girls nodded in agreement and laughed awkwardly along to help clear the air but when Ikuto started packing his books, the red head suddenly got up to stop him, “W-wait Ikuto-kun, you said you were going to help us.”

Ikuto coldly looked at the girl before moving his arm away from her grip, “I just realized that I’m busy and don’t really have time for this.”

As he was about to leave the table, he turned to the girls, “Also, please don’t call me by my first name. We’re not close enough for that,” he said before leaving the room.

* * *

Leaning back to her seat, Amu stretched the muscles that were beginning to tighten on her body. Feeling the tension loosened, she grabbed the remaining textbook on her desk that she was going to go through when she saw Ikuto walking quickly toward her.

As she followed Ikuto’s figure coming toward her, she noticed the muscular structure on his face. She wasn’t sure if she was just imagining it but for some reason, Ikuto looked…..

Angry?

When the blue hair man was finally in front of her, Amu took off her headphones and looked up, “That was pretty fast. You finished helping them already?”

When Ikuto stayed silent with his eyes staring intently at her, Amu started to frown in confusion, “Ikuto?”

“Want to leave now?” he asked and then smiled, “I bet you could use some fresh air.”

Amu wanted to finish what she had planned to study today but seeing the way Ikuto looked so perturbed made her want to follow along his request.

And she has been in the library long enough. Her limbs were getting achy from being in the same position for a few hours anyway.

“Okay, let’s go.”

* * *

“Yukito,” Ikuto chuckled, “We can’t buy too much strawberry milk,” he said as he looked down at the grocery cart where the bluenette proceed to throw in more packs of her favorite dairy beverage.

Yukito frowned and looked down as well before looking back up to Ikuto, “But I love strawberry milk.”

“Your Mama isn’t going to let you get so many though…,” Ikuto trailed off, although he’d like to put some chocolate milk in the cart as well.

Feeling determined, Yukito replied, “Throw more food on top to hide it! Mama won’t know!”

“Won’t know what?”

Both Ikuto and Yukito froze up as Amu came back from looking for some of the items she had wanted in a far-off aisle.

“Nothing!” Yukito said quickly, her body instinctively tried to hide what she was doing but being how short the bluenette was Amu’s eyes could see the cart loaded with pink cartons of milk and her eyes widened.

“Again, Yukito!” Amu huffed, “I told you that we can’t buy too much every time, or you’ll end up drinking them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Seeing the defeated look on Yukito’s face, Ikuto stepped in to try and reason with the pinkette, “It’s fine. Now that we’re living together, getting more wouldn’t hurt.” He said, “And besides, I love strawberry milk too.”

Amu wanted to say no, but decided to let it go for today and sighed, “Fine,” she drawled, “but,” she walked over to the dairy area and swapped out two packs of strawberry milk with chocolate milk, “We’ll do this, okay?”

Smiling, Yukito nodded ecstatically and skipped along in her steps. Ikuto pushed the shopping cart while Amu looked down at the list of what she still needed to buy. As they continued walking, Ikuto turned to Amu, “You okay? You seemed tensed when you came out of the school.”

Amu furrowed her eyebrows in worry as she looked at the bluenette, but decided not to say anything for now, “No, I’m fine.” She said and then turned to Ikuto, “I should ask you that though.”

Ikuto raised his eyebrows, “Me?”

“You looked upset when we left the library,” Amu explained.

Realization dawned on Ikuto and all he could say was, “Ah.”

Amu frowned, “What does that mean? Did something happen?”

Ikuto didn’t know what to say. How could he possibly have explained that the reason why he was mad at that time was because those girls said such vulgar things to the pinkette. Telling Amu the reason would hurt her feelings too.

“They were wasting my time and I got mad.”

Amu raised an eyebrow before laughing, “Just because of that?”

Instead of commenting on that, Ikuto chose to look down at the grocery list and see what else they still need.

Suddenly, Yukito came back and dumped whatever else she had brought with her into the cart. Both Ikuto and Amu looked down to see that the bluenette had put in two packs of taiyaki ice cream.

“Yukito,” Amu whined, “You’re going to have cavity eating so much sweets.”

“This is for Ikuto nii chan,” Yukito smiled. 

The bluenette was about to run and get more stuff before Amu decided to grab her and put her on the child seat in the cart, “Alright we’ll get these but no more. We have enough sugar in this cart.” Amu reasoned and then give Ikuto a stern look, “If you want anything else, we’ll have to get them next time okay?”

Smiling and nodding her head, Yukito agreed to her mother’s request.

Ikuto bent down and whispered to Yukito in mock horror, “You traitor!” Yukito giggled as Ikuto laughed alongside her. Amu smiled in relief at seeing the bluenette’s mood perking up like usual. On the other hand, her heart felt uneasy.

_“Amu-san, has Yukito chan said anything to you about what happened at school?”_

_Amu looked at the teacher carefully, “Not that I know of, did something happen?"_

_The woman looked to the pinkette and frowned in worry, “I’m not too sure what’s going on. Yukito chan suddenly doesn’t seem to be playing with the other kids and one child in particular has been provoking her in some way and I can’t get her to tell me if she’s being bullied.”_

_“What?”_

_The young teacher looked away with regret, “I’ve been separating Yukito from the other child, making sure to keep an eye on them. But today, Yukito got hurt and I couldn’t not tell you about this anymore.”_

_“That’s how Yukito got hurt today,” Amu realized with apprehension._

_The young teacher nodded as she bowed and sorrowfully apologized, “I’m so sorry Amu-san. I promise to make sure nothing like this will happen again.”_

_The pinkette looked to her daughter’s sensei, “Thank you for telling me and thank you for looking after Yukito. I know you’re only one person and there’s not much you can do about it when something like this happens. If something like this happens again, please let me know right away.”_

* * *

“Yukito, walk slowly so you won’t spill it,” Amu instructed before handing Yukito the tray with a bowl of miso soup to the table. She eyed Utau with a plea to help her with the task and Utau immediately got up off the couch.

Turning away from Yukito, Amu resort herself to fill the other three bowls with the soup. The grilled mackerels were almost done, and she just heard the rice cooker went off, signaling that the rice was ready.

“Do you want me to deal with the rice, Amu?” The pinkette looked to see that Ikuto had came down to the kitchen and was eyeing the grilled mackerels with an almost hungry gaze.

Smiling to herself, she nodded, “Yes please and no eating until everyone’s ready. You can divide the rice up and put them out to the table.”

Pouting, Ikuto did as he was told and proportioned the food. Utau and Yukito came back in to the kitchen to bring out the rest of the soup while Amu laid out the fish in their own respective plates.

“Ikuto, hurry up! We’re starving! How long does it take you to divide up the rice?” Utau exclaimed.

“I was looking for the right bowls! You think Yukito could eat an adult’s portioned size amount?”

“So what? You think Yukito can’t handle the amount of food that you can eat? Yukito needs to eat more anyways,” Utau retorted before looking to the bluenette, “right Yukito chan?”

“Eat more, eat more!”

Yep, much livelier than what she’s used to.

* * *

“Itadakimasu!”

The sounds of slurping and chopsticks were heard as everyone took their first bite of their dinner.

“This is so good, Amu,” Utau gushed, “I’m so glad you’re living here. I missed homecooked meals.”

“Hey, I cook for us too sometimes,” Ikuto remarked, “You’re the one who just don’t want to eat what I make.”

“Ikuto, about everything you make are either store bought or something that ends up being burnt.”

The bluenette male muttered something incoherent before digging into his food but Utau smacked him upside the head when Yukito asked, “Why does that word mean?”

Amu couldn’t help but smile at the scene before her. There was a certain type of joy the pinkette felt at seeing the light-hearted and lively interactions around the table. It’s been a long time since she’s eaten dinner in this type of environment.

Sure, when Tsukasa and Marie invite her and Yukito over for dinner it does feel like a family eating dinner together. But Amu never overstepped her boundary as a guest. It’s a different feeling being here.

This feels like home.

* * *

After tucking in Yukito for the night, Amu wanted to get a glass of water and read a bit before heading to bed when she heard a soft knock on the door.

Opening the door to see that it was Utau, Amu asked, “What’s wrong?”

Smiling, Utau responded, “Want to come to my room to talk?”

“Eh?”

“It’s been a while since the last time we had girls’ night and there are some things I’ve want to talk to you about for a while now.”

Seeing Utau’s point, Amu nodded and closed the light in her room and followed the blonde to her bedroom.

Utau laid down on her bed, supporting her head with her pillow while Amu took the leather armchair and sat cross-legged, “So what’s up?”

The blonde idol shrugged, “Just wondering how you’re adjusting?”

Amu laughed, “It’s only the first day but I feel fine. Still need to get used to living in such a large house though.”

Utau nodded as she remembered the pinkette’s small but homey apartment, “Living with only Ikuto here is kind of lonely with how big this house is. I’m glad you’re here.” Utau smiled before she added in, “I can’t stand eating Ikuto’s cooking anymore.”

Amu giggled, “I’m sure it’s not that bad, “

“Amu, the man takes snacks and sugar like it’s water almost every day. I want actual food. You should teach him how to cook proper food.”

“How come you don’t make dinner, then?”

“I do, but he just complains about them.” Utau grumbled in her pillow, “He’s very obedient when you’re around. Like during dinner, when I told him that he should do the dishes tonight, he didn’t even complain!”

“Oh.” Was all Amu could say. She wasn’t sure how to respond and she didn’t know what to say in regard to Ikuto.

Seeing the blank look on Amu’s face, Utau continued, “There’s something I want to ask you Amu,” Suddenly, Amu’s phone rang, interrupting their conversation.

Looking at the calling ID, Amu pressed the phone to her ear, “Hey Tadase kun.”

Hearing the other end of the line, Amu responded, “No, I’m in Utau’s room, we’re just talking.”

Utau decided to get into a more comfortable position by sitting cross legged on her bed and holding onto her pillow.

“Okay then, good night.” Amu hang up the phone and laid it on the desk before turning back to the blonde, who curiously asked, “Why did Tadase called?”

“Oh, he just calls every night before heading to bed.”

“Are you guys….dating?” Utau asked.

“No,” the pinkette replied which made Utau all the more confused, “To be honest, I don’t know why I’m doing this either.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know my feelings for Tadase enough to know that I’ll never be able to love him fully the way he wants me to,” Amu explained with a long sigh. The words had finally been spoken but she felt both relieved and guilty at the same time.

“I’m just avoiding the inevitable.”

Silence enveloped the room as they let their thoughts run blank in their head, just staring at what was right in front of them.

“Utau,” Amu started, her eyes looked up to Utau, “How were you able to get over your feelings for Souma kun?”

The question caught Utau off guard, but she quickly reeled herself back in. Amu knew of her long-time feelings for the brunette man since high school. Utau had confide to her many times about it.

“I confessed to him right before I left Paris. He never gave me a reply, not even once.” Utau explained, “So I figured that was his answer.”

Amu’s eyes widened in surprised at the answer and looking at Utau, her sad expression tells her that there’s more to the story as well, “I didn’t get over Kukai because of that though. A lot of things happened, and Reiji helped me get through them. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me.”

Utau was avoiding the details and Amu had a feeling that it was best not to ask them. If anything, she felt she had no rights to them. “I’m sorry for not being there for you when you needed me.”

The blonde looked to the pinkette and gave her a sad smile, “It’s okay. I know you had your struggles too.”

Amu shook her head, “I could have done things differently instead of just cutting everyone off.”

The blonde idol laughed as she felt a tear threatening to come out, “Well, you’re here now. Just don’t disappear again. If you leave though,” Utau said with a seriousness in her eyes before smiling, “Leave Yukito here. She cuter than you.”

“Hey!” Amu exclaimed and got up off her chair to smack one of the throw pillows at her friend, “I’m being replaced by both of you for each other.” They looked at each other and then laughed at the joke.

When Utau felt her laughter subside, she looked to the pinkette, “Amu, you asked me how I got over Kukai. Is it because you have someone that you’re trying to get over your feelings for? Is that why you can’t love Tadase?”

Amu’s mirth quickly subsided, and a forlorn expression painted her face as she held her knees tightly to her chest, “No….I don’t know, to be honest.”

“By any chance, is that person Ikuto?”

Amu’s eyes widened as she looked to Utau, “N-“ ‘ _No’_ was what she wanted to say but for some reason, she couldn’t bring out that simply syllable out of her.

“You still love Ikuto, don’t you?”

Again, Amu wanted to say no, but every time she tried to word it out, she felt her throat clogged up, as if unable to say the lie.

Lie? How was it a lie? It’s clearly the truth, isn’t it?

“You’re wrong. I-“ Amu held her knees tightly as she tried to force out the words, “I can’t love him, Utau.”

“Why not?” Utau asked, “You’ve loved him for so long, ever since high school.”

“If you know what I’ve done, you wouldn’t want me to be with him.” Amu croaked, feeling the gravity of the conversation weighing on her.

The moment the words came out of Amu’s mouth, Utau knew exactly what the pinkette meant. Utau got up off the bed and moved towards the pinkette. She knelt down and looked Amu directly in the eye, “If you’re talking about the situation between you and Ikuto, I already know.”

Amu felt her heart froze up instantly, her eyes widened in shock and her body tensed as she looked to her friend, “Y-you mean – “

“You slept with Ikuto, didn’t you? And Yukito resulted from that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooooooooooooooooooo…..Update next week!
> 
> DaTenshi Yuki


	13. Settling In, Unsettling Feelings Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own most of the characters in this story. They belong to the wonderful Peach-Pit, the creator of Shugo Chara. Thank you and enjoy!

_“Kukai, we’re almost there, don’t you dare sleep on me,” Utau grunted as she was juggling between the man that was holding on to her and attempting to slot the key card to his room. Breathing a sigh of relief at the familiar beep, she hauled the bigger man with her to the room and gently laid him on the bed._

_Catching her breath, Utau stretched her arms to get some feelings back in them. When she felt her body relieved of its tension, she took a deep breath and helped Kukai sleep properly in his bed: taking off his shoes, relieving him of his blazer and set him to a more comfortable position in bed._

_As she was about to pull the blanket over the brunette, she heard him chuckled and looked to see that he was laughing in his sleep._

_Utau felt her heart swelled with happiness and smiled at the goofy grin on the brunette’s face but a few seconds later the feeling was replaced with a small sadness. She was going to leave for Paris in a couple weeks. She wouldn’t even know when she’ll be back to Japan._

_The blonde had thought about confessing to him, but can she handle a long-distance relationship knowing that she was going to be extremely busy? Sure, a 7-hour time difference wasn’t a lot but knowing what her future will entail, it seemed as if she was better off not telling him._

_Resigning to that fact, she laid the blanket snugly over him and quietly left the room._

_Coming back to her hotel room, Utau realized that Amu haven’t come back from helping Ikuto to his room yet. Utau smirked to herself as she thought about teasing her best friend later._

_Utau shrugged off her dress to quickly shower and get through her nightly routine. But even after that, Amu still haven’t come back yet._

_The blonde frowned to herself. Maybe Ikuto puked his guts out and Amu was just helping him. She sent a text to the pinkette and asked if everything was alright before climbing on her bed and just wait for a reply._

_1 hour later…._

_2 hours later…_

_Utau didn’t know when she fell asleep, but she was woken up by the sound of crying._

_“Amu?” Utau called as she slowly got up, “Is everything alright?”_

_“No, I’m okay, sorry for waking you up,” Amu whispered, “You go back to sleep.”_

_Utau didn’t need to be told twice as she laid her head back on the soft pillow again. Maybe she’ll ask the pinkette later in the morning why she was crying and why she was apologizing to her._

Amu stared wide eye at her friend, unable to form any syllables as she listened.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure at first.” Utau explained, “But the more I remembered the last few weeks before I left and how you were acting so strange, the more it made sense. And given how old Yukito is and you refusing to talk about the father….I had a feeling it was my brother’s.”

The pinkette felt her ears ringing and her heart beating rapidly. So Utau had known all along?

“Then why didn’t you say anything at all?” Amu croaked.

“You said you wanted time before telling me what had happened,” the blonde replied, “But seeing you beating yourself up over it, I couldn’t keep quiet anymore. It’s like you’re punishing yourself by dealing with this all alone.”

“I _should_ be punished, I-,“ before she could finish, the tears started to fall, “I took advantage of Ikuto. When he pulled me down on the bed, I could have just told him to stop; I could have said anything to stop him, but I didn’t.” Amu covered her face, each word weighing heavily on her heart as she said them. Before she could stop herself, the weight of it overtook her and she started to feel the tears creeping up.

“I just wanted a memory, Utau,” Amu tearfully continued, “But I felt so ashamed after I came back to the room. I felt like I betrayed your trust. When I found out I was pregnant, I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Amu,” Utau’s firm tone prompted the pinkette to look at her friend, scared at what she was going to hear.

Seeing the expression on the pinkette’s face, Utau sighed and smiled, “I’m not mad.”

The words only confused Amu all the more, but Utau continued, “You could have made Ikuto take responsibilities because Yukito is also his. That way he’d be by your side, but you didn’t. And that’s enough for me.”

The words somehow lifted something off of Amu, and she couldn’t stop the flow of tears running down her cheeks. Utau rubbed her friends back, as if it would alleviate her feelings, “I promise I won’t say anything. If you choose to continue with the way things are, I won’t get in the way of that. But if you want to tell Ikuto, I will definitely support you. I can’t guarantee how he’d react though.”

Though Amu was still processing the waves of feelings that were hitting her at once, the pinkette looked at her friend and smiled a relieve smile, “Thank you, Utau.”

The blonde smiled and hugged her friend, before squealing, “I can’t believe I’m an aunt! And to such a cute niece!”

Amu could only laugh at her friend’s excitement, sighing in relief as if she found some sort of peace for the first time in her life since she made the decision to keep Yukito.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really, really late update but Uh….Enjoy?
> 
> DaTenshi Yuki


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